Artificial intelligence (AI) has become integral to how the U.S. energy sector plans, operates, monitors, and defends critical infrastructure. To win the race to achieve global dominance in AI, President Trump has championed executive actions such as “Winning the Race: America’s AI Action Plan” and “Launching the Genesis Mission.”
In alignment with President Trump’s executive actions, the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) is advancing Artificial Intelligence For Operationally Resilient Technologies and Systems (AI-FORTS)—a program designed to drive innovation in AI for energy security.
AI-FORTS aligns directly with the first strategic goal outlined in CESER’s Strategic Plan Fiscal Years 2026 to 2030—Goal 1: Develop world-class security technologies. CESER partners with DOE’s National Laboratories and utilities across the country to develop AI capabilities to advance the three pillars of the AI-FORTS program.
AI-FORTS Pillars
- Secure From AI: The threat landscape is evolving rapidly and malicious actors are increasingly leveraging large language models (LLMs) and other AI tools to exploit cyber vulnerabilities, including in critical infrastructure. This pillar focuses on defending energy infrastructure against AI-enabled attacks and developing the evaluation and stress-testing methods needed to anticipate and mitigate those threats.
- Secure With AI: This pillar focuses on applying AI to enhance energy security. This includes developing cutting-edge tools and methods to enhance threat detection, threat hunting, operational technology (OT) and industrial control system (ICS) visibility, anomaly detection, incident response decision support, automated assessment workflows, and operate-through-compromise resilience.
- Secure AI: Although AI can improve the energy sector’s performance and effectiveness, the AI systems used in the energy sector can also become a target of attack. This pillar will support the hardening of the AI used to operate, control, or defend U.S. energy systems.
The AI-FORTS program will reduce exposure to AI-enabled threats through systematic evaluation and countermeasures, increase AI-enabled defensive capabilities, and ensure that AI used in energy systems is trustworthy, secure, and resilient.
Get Involved
Securing energy infrastructure requires a concerted national effort.
CESER currently collaborates with the following partners on AI-FORTS:
- DOE National Laboratories to co-develop leading-edge AI tools
- Utilities and OT/ICS operators to pilot and scale intelligent defenses
- Universities and research and development institutions to innovate new methods and transfer knowledge
Contact CESER to learn more and explore collaboration opportunities: AI-FORTS@doe.gov