Members of Congress have called for oversight of the use of artificial intelligence in war after reports the U.S. military is using AI tools to help determine which sites in Iran to attack.
As the use of AI grows in tandem with conflict in the Middle East, several publications, including The Independent, have reported on the technology’s use in military operations.
NBC News reported Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter, that the U.S. military is using AI systems from Palantir to identify potential targets for air strikes in the Iran war.
Palantir’s Maven Smart System is using classified satellite data and surveillance to help provide instantaneous targeting and target prioritization to the U.S. military amid its striking campaign in Iran, The Washington Post reported last week.
The Maven Smart System uses Anthropic’s Claude tool. A source familiar with the Department of Defense’s use of Claude told The Independent the tool can help military personnel understand a large volume of intelligence reports more quickly than a human.
But the source made clear that Claude does not decide which military targets to strike, saying that it is a human job.
The Independent has reached out to Palantir and the DOD for comment.
Several Democrats called for greater oversight of the U.S. military’s AI usage in NBC News’ report.
“We need a full, impartial review to determine if AI has already harmed or jeopardized lives in the war with Iran,” Representative Jill Tokuda of Hawaii, who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said.
Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said, “It’s really up to the humans, and in this case the Secretary of Defense, to ensure that there’s human redundancy for the foreseeable future, and that is what we just don’t have confidence in.”
Representative Sara Jacobs of California, another House Armed Services Committee member, said, “We have a responsibility to enforce strict guardrails on the military’s use of AI and guarantee a human is in the loop in every decision to use lethal force, because the cost of getting it wrong could be devastating for civilians and the service members carrying out these missions.”
A newly-published investigation by The Independent and conflict monitoring group Airwars found that Abdul-Rahman al-Rawi, a 20-year-old student, was the first known civilian killed in a series of airstrikes that were acknowledged to have been carried out with the help of AI.
Abdul-Rahman was caught up in one of dozens of attacks carried out by the US in February 2024 against Iraqi government-aligned forces and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.
Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads the U.S. Central Command, has admitted that the military is using AI tools in its fight against the Iranian regime.
“Our warfighters are leveraging a variety of advanced AI tools. These systems help us sift through vast amounts of data in seconds so our leaders can cut through the noise and make smarter decisions faster than the enemy can react,” Cooper said in a video statement Wednesday.
“Humans will always make final decisions on what to shoot and what not to shoot and when to shoot, but advanced AI tools can turn processes used to take hours and sometimes even days into seconds,” the admiral continued.
At least 1,230 people in Iran have been killed in the conflict, the Associated Press reported, according to local officials. It’s unclear how many of those were civilians.
A preliminary Pentagon report has found that the U.S. was responsible for the unintentional bombing of an all-girls’ school in Minab, Iran, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing U.S. officials and others familiar with the findings.
The February 28 strike killed some 175 people, most of whom were children, the NYT reported, citing Iranian officials. It’s unknown if AI had a role in the strike.
When asked about the report outside the White House Wednesday, Trump said, “I don’t know about it.”
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