Tech Talk: AI becomes new frontline weapon as militaries accelerate autonomous warfare

As conflict in the Middle East intensifies, militaries are turning to a new kind of weapon — not a missile or drone, but artificial intelligence (AI).

As you read this article, advanced AI systems are being used to help identify targets, guide strikes, and speed up battlefield decisions, promising greater precision and fewer civilian casualties. But as this technology rapidly evolves, it is also becoming one of the most powerful and potentially destructive tools shaping modern warfare, many experts say, out of necessity.

“It’s important to know that America’s adversaries are not having this debate about whether to use AI in warfare or national security; they’re already doing it, and they’re already doing it at machine speed, period, full stop,” Cristin Flynn Goodwin, former Microsoft cyber law expert and now owner of Advancing Cyber, explained. “It’s in every major battle space around the world, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, all the big adversaries that the United States has.”

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire, and you can expect the Chinese will be testing other large language models like OpenAI and Google’s Gemini, to see its capabilities and how it would withstand an attack,” Flynn Goodwin said.

Two sources familiar with U.S. military operations said the Pentagon used Anthropic’s Claude AI model during the weekend attack on Iran and continues to rely on the system. Defense officials have not disclosed exactly how the technology is being used.

The U.S. military is reportedly deploying one-way drones to slip past enemy detection and deliver payloads. Multiple sources have said Iran has used similar drone technology to successfully strike U.S. embassies in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, as well as a consulate in the U.A.E. city of Dubai.

Drone technology and tactics have become sharpened in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“Russia has been using AI in attacks with drones in Ukraine, and they’re using AI in their drones to be able to find and track and strike targets with little or almost no human control,” explained Flynn Goodwin. “Drones use machine vision. They use autonomous navigation, and it helps them bypass jamming, because they’re so small, to help speed up attacks on the battlefield.”

Ethical dilemma surrounding AI and autonomous weapons

A central argument for prohibiting autonomous weapons systems that use AI is that machines should not be allowed to make life-and-death decisions without meaningful human control. Those decisions might include relying on algorithms to identify and attack targets, which raises serious risks of errors, misidentification, and unintended civilian casualties – especially in complex environments like cities, where distinguishing combatants from civilians can be difficult.

Opponents also warn that autonomous weapons could lower the threshold for war and accelerate conflicts. If countries can deploy weapons that operate without human operators at risk, leaders may find it easier to initiate military action.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a coalition of 61 groups in 26 countries formed by Human Rights Watch, is urging countries to create laws to prohibit autonomous weapons systems.

The International Committee of the Red Cross falls short of calling for a total ban on all military AI, but they have urged governments to adopt strict limits and new international rules to prevent autonomous weapons that could violate international humanitarian law.

Amnesty International warns that AI-driven weapons and surveillance technologies could lead to unlawful killings, discrimination, and a lack of accountability in war.

The argument in favor centers on increasing precision and reducing human risk in combat. Proponents say AI-controlled systems can process vast amounts of data in real time, identify targets faster than humans, and execute operations with consistent accuracy. They argue this could reduce civilian harm and friendly-fire incidents compared with human soldiers, who can make mistakes under stress, fatigue, and confusion in high-intensity combat.

Ethical questions of U.S. military using Claude

The alleged deployment of Anthropic’s Claude AI platform to strike Iran comes despite a broader government ban on the tool announced last week after a dispute between the Pentagon and Anthropic.

The disagreement reportedly centered on the company’s push for safeguards that would block the military from using Claude for mass surveillance of Americans or to operate fully autonomous weapons systems.

What’s next?

Flynn Goodwin described U.S. interest in developing AI-based weapons as a national security priority. She cited the NSA’s AI Security Center as a key example, noting that other countries are actively developing and deploying AI for both conventional and cyber operations.

“You have to expect, and in fact demand, that the United States would be prepared to do the same, or else our defenses would be weaker,” explained Flynn Goodwin. “Our adversaries are going to continue to push the envelope in how artificial intelligence can be used and abused for their own purposes, and so the United States has to be pushing the boundaries.”

In other words, countries around the world are locked in a technology tit-for-tat that may never go away.

“The United States military is working really hard on how to use AI for the warfighter,” Flynn Goodwin said. “That’s where I think we can take confidence in the fact that AI is not going away, and we’ve got a lot of folks that are thinking really hard about how to make sure that it’s being used to protect the US interests going forward.”

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