Marines to Use AI in Seeking Out More Mature, Skilled Recruits

The U.S. Marine Corps is using artificial intelligence and data analytics tools to implement a paradigm shift in the kind of Marines it recruits and eventually retains in the service. On Wednesday, Gen. David Berger, the USMC’s commandant, released the Talent Management 2030 report, which outlines new ideas on staffing the service to better meet the needs of the next decade, Defense News reported Thursday.

The USMC is now seeking to attract older and more cognitively mature individuals who are cross-trained to juggle a variety of roles and missions, and who are tech-savvy. The ability to dominate future battlefields demands a human resource system that can “recruit, develop and retain a corps of Marines that is more intelligent, physically fit, cognitively mature and experienced,” according to the report.

Berger told reporters that the service wants to bring in a smaller number of new Marines each year, focusing on those who show promise in performing under pressure and mastering multiple specialties.

The commandant said that fewer Marines will be brought into the service the old-fashioned way, which is through recruiters making their rounds at high schools and colleges. Most candidates will immediately undergo a new kind of assessment and screening, one that leverages the latest advances in AI and data analytics to determine their potential to pick up multiple skillsets and learn foreign languages.

Berger said that the new recruitment paradigm will open more opportunities to join the Marine Corps at an older age. He added that this will create better opportunities to laterally bring in talent from industry, government and academia.