The US and Israeli war on Iran is a live testing ground for deploying AI in a large-scale war. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Anthropic’s Claude is central to the onslaught: assessing intelligence and identifying targets. This isn’t the first time Anthropic’s systems have been used to assist in illegal US operations: they were also deployed in Maduroo’s kidnapping from Venezuela.
The biggest role AI now plays in the US-Israeli war on Iran is in decision-support systems processing satellite imagery, surveillance data, and intelligence to recommend targets. These systems are far from accurate, as the slaughter of 168 school children and teachers is a horrifying testament to. Israel’s AI targeting system, Lavender, used in Gaza, was wrong at least 10% of the time, contributing to thousands of civilian deaths. Though, regardless of ‘accuracy’, these technologies enable Israel and the US to wage this illegal war and to strike over 1,000 targets within the first 24 hours of the attack.
The Pentagon continued using Claude despite a government-wide ban on the technology, announced just hours earlier following a very public dispute with Anthropic. The conflict centred on Anthropic’s push for guardrails that would explicitly prevent the military from using Claude to conduct mass surveillance on Americans or to power fully autonomous weapons. Supposedly, mass surveillance outside the US would not pose any moral issues. When Anthropic refused to back down, Trump ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s tools, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declared the company a “supply chain risk to national security.” Rival OpenAI swiftly moved in and struck a deal with the Pentagon instead.
Tech workers at Google, OpenAI, and other firms began circulating open letters calling for clearer limits on how their employers work with the military, with hundreds signing in support of Anthropic’s stance. Meanwhile, Claude remains in use because it is central to Palantir’s Maven Smart System, which provides real-time targeting, and the Pentagon says it won’t be phased out until a replacement is found.
Those of us in the EU can focus our efforts on pressuring European governments to follow Spain’s lead in condemning this illegal war and connecting with the Iranian diaspora for other forms of support.
See: Black-box AI and cheap drones are outpacing global rules of war at Rest of World.
Image by Delil Souleiman/AFP from the original article.