According to a report by The Washington Post , the U.S. military was able to strike up to 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours of its operation in Iran , partly thanks to the support of artificial intelligence. In these operations, the military used Claude – an AI tool developed by Anthropic – in conjunction with Palantir's Maven system to analyze data and prioritize targets in near real-time.

 

However, the potential application of AI in warfare is not something that has suddenly emerged in recent years. For an automated system to operate effectively in a military environment, it requires both a technological infrastructure and a team of experts to operate it. In fact, the US's ability to deploy AI on the battlefield today is the result of decades of investment in technology and military organization.

According to strategic technology research experts, the effectiveness of digital systems depends heavily on the organization using them. Some organizations can leverage new technologies effectively, while others fail to fully utilize their potential.

 

Understanding AI in the military correctly

In popular culture and science fiction films, military AI is often depicted as autonomous killer robots or swarms of fully automated combat drones . However, that image largely exaggerates the AI's autonomy and overlooks the crucial role of humans.

In fact, AI systems in the military can be divided into two main groups: autonomous weapons and decision support systems .

Autonomous weapons are systems capable of independently selecting or attacking targets to a certain extent. This type of technology is often mentioned in debates about ethics and arms control.

Conversely, new decision support systems are the most prevalent component in modern militaries. These systems provide analytical data, intelligence, and planning tools to humans. The vast majority of current AI applications in warfare – including numerous campaigns in the Middle East – fall into this category.

Modern military forces rely on a wide range of software systems for intelligence analysis, operational management, battlefield coordination, communications, logistics, and cybersecurity.

Claude is a prime example of a decision support system, not a weapon. This tool is integrated into the Maven Smart System , a data analytics platform used by many military, intelligence, and law enforcement organizations. Maven uses AI algorithms to identify potential targets from satellite data and various other intelligence sources, while Claude assists military planners in organizing information and determining priorities.

Several other AI systems operate in a similar way, such as Israel's Lavender or Gospel in operations in Gaza. These tools help analyze data and suggest targets, but the final decision still rests with humans .

Military AI has a long history.

In fact, weapons with a certain degree of automation have been present in warfare for more than a century. 19th-century naval mines could detonate upon contact with a ship. During World War II, Germany used gyro-guided flying bombs. Self-guided torpedoes and heat-seeking missiles also have the ability to adjust their trajectories to track their targets.

 

Today, many modern defense systems, such as Israel's Iron Dome or the US Patriot, have long had an automatic operating mode.

In 21st-century warfare, drones have become a ubiquitous tool. These systems handle a wide range of dangerous or time-consuming tasks on land, at sea, in the air, and even in space.

Remotely controlled vehicles such as the American MQ-9 Reaper or the Israeli Hermes 900 can fly for hours to perform reconnaissance or attack missions. During the Russia-Ukraine war, the warring parties also developed first-person view (FPV) drones to be used as suicide weapons.

Some drones now also use AI to identify targets when remote control is subjected to electronic jamming.

However, automation in warfare isn't just about weapons. As observation and attack capabilities become faster, the amount of information that needs to be processed also increases dramatically. This is why decision support systems become so important.

The role of organizations in automated warfare.

For automated systems to operate effectively, military organizations must also change their operating methods.

Over the decades, the U.S. military has developed new tactical and organizational concepts – from electronic warfare during the Vietnam War to the AirLand Battle doctrine of the Cold War, and then network-centric warfare.

In the U.S. global war on terrorism, AI-based decision-support systems have become crucial tools for target detection, planning operations to capture or eliminate terrorists, and analyzing intelligence data.

Systems like Maven play a crucial role in this combat model.

The modern U.S. combat capability – demonstrated in recent operations – is the result of decades of testing and refinement . Military forces must combine data from multiple intelligence sources, analyze targets, evaluate attack options, coordinate forces, and assess post-operation results.

 

AI can only participate in this process because thousands of human personnel are operating and monitoring the entire system .

AI still needs human judgment.

The use of AI in the military has also raised concerns about the phenomenon of 'automation bias' – where people place too much trust in machine systems.

However, this risk is not new. In the past, many automated systems have been fooled or led to serious errors. For example, the Igloo White surveillance system during the Vietnam War was fooled by decoys. In 1988, a US warship accidentally shot down an Iranian passenger plane. In 1999, intelligence errors led to US aircraft mistakenly attacking the Chinese embassy in Serbia.

In many conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, miscalculations or misunderstandings of local culture have also led to civilian casualties.

These incidents demonstrate that the problem often lies with people and organizations, not just technology .

AI can help organizations process data and make better predictions. But prediction is only one part of the decision-making process.

Humans are the ones who determine acceptable goals, values, and consequences in the real world. AI systems lack elements such as ethics, political priorities, or social responsibility.

Therefore, while AI is increasingly used in the military, this does not diminish the role of humans in warfare. In fact, as technology becomes more sophisticated, the role of humans in monitoring and decision-making becomes even more crucial .