[ad_1]
Forget science fiction. The age of AI in war is here.
Israel has used AI systems in Gaza to flag potential targets and help prioritise operations.
The United States military reportedly used Anthropic’s model, Claude, during its operation to abduct Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela.
And even after Anthropic got into difficulties with the US administration over exactly how AI should be used in war, the US military still apparently used Claude in its attack on Iran.
Iran latest: Trump criticises Starmer over UK stance
It is highly possible, experts say, that the missiles flying over Tehran today are being targeted by systems powered by AI.
“AI is changing the nature of modern warfare in the 21st century. It is difficult to overstate the impact that it has and will have,” says Craig Jones, a senior lecturer in political geography from Newcastle University.
“It is a potentially terrifying scenario.”
Terrifying or not, it seems there’s no going back. If you want a sense of the importance the US military places on AI, a good place to start is a memo sent by defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who styles himself Secretary of War, to all senior military leaders early this year.
“I direct the Department of War to accelerate America’s Military AI Dominance by becoming an ‘AI-first’ warfighting force across all components, from front to back,” Mr Hegseth wrote.
This is not an experiment, this is a command – to adopt AI quickly, and at scale.
Or as Hegseth puts it: “Speed Wins”.
Yet the scenario in question is not the one that might first spring to mind.
Yes, autonomy is increasing in some areas. In Ukraine, for example, there are drones capable of continuing a mission even after losing contact with a human operator.
But we are not at the stage of autonomous killer robots stalking the…
[ad_2]
