Weapons powered by artificial intelligence (AI) dominate battlefields across the world, including the Russia-Ukraine war, the US-Israel war against Iran, and Israel’s war against Palestine, where AI technologies are believed to have played an important role.
Reports suggest that the United States War Department used Anthropic’s Claude AI as part of Operation Epic Fury against Iran. Experts have warned that the growing use of AI weapons could sideline human input.
AI-powered weapons shorten the military kill chain and operate faster than the “speed of thought.”
For the uninitiated, kill chain here refers to the process of identifying the target and legally approving the execution of the strike.
The United States and Israel launched nearly 900 strikes against Iran in the first 12 hours of operations.
Academics who study AI have warned that this process of “decision compression” could minimize human involvement by simply approving automated planes.
David Leslie, professor of ethics, technology and society at Queen Mary University of London, said: “This is the next era of military strategy and military technology. »
He warned that over-reliance on AI could lead to cognitive overload.
Ukraine has also largely integrated AI into its military operations against Russia, notably in drone warfare.
The growing role of AI in military operations is evident in the recent feud between Anthropic and the Pentagon. Anthropic deployed its AI models across the War Department in 2024 to accelerate war planning and improve intelligence analysis.
However, the San Francisco-based company has taken a stance against the use of its tools in artificial intelligence autonomous weapons without human oversight and has also raised concerns about the Pentagon using its technology for large-scale domestic surveillance.
Anthropic was blacklisted by federal agencies after resisting Pentagon demands.
