US-Iran Conflict: AI's Increasingly Central Role in Warfare

As the US and Israeli militaries continue to target Iran, AI is increasingly at the heart of the conflict. 

Even after US President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth moved to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk, the company’s AI tools, including Claude, have reportedly played a key role in military strikes on Iran. 

From identifying targets and gaining legal approval to executing the strikes themselves, AI is speeding up decision-making at every level.

Various reports indicate AI was used in the initial missile strikes on Iran, including operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who reigned for almost four decades.

AI for intelligence gathering 

One of the most established uses of AI in warfare is intelligence processing. 

The US Department of Defense’s Project Maven, a pioneering AI for warfare programme, applies machine learning to analyse aerial imagery and sensor data, helping analysts detect objects and patterns more quickly.

Palantir, which partnered with the government in Project Maven, has a strong stance on the use of AI for military purposes, as noted by CEO Alex Karp: "This country is focused on using AI to have a structural advantage in how we deploy and understand the battlefield.”

Israel’s military has also acknowledged using advanced data analytics and AI-assisted systems to process intelligence and prioritise targets in operations in Gaza. 

The power of AI embedded systems in active combat has also been prominent during the Ukraine-Russia war. 

Autonomous weapons and Anthropic’s disapproval

To achieve the upper hand in battle, Ukrainian forces have used drones equipped with computer vision and autonomous navigation software to identify and track targets. 

These advanced systems are capable of operating in contested environments where GPS signals are disrupted, making them harder to counter.

Western defence companies have also developed AI-powered loitering munitions capable of independently locating radar systems or armoured vehicles.

While these semi-autonomous weapons are active in battle grounds, Anthropic deems fully-autonomous systems to be far from view, prompting a widening rift between the company and the US Government's years-long collaboration. 

"I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies and to defeat our autocratic adversaries,” says Dario Amodei, CEO and Co-Founder of Anthropic. “But today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons. 

"We will not knowingly provide a product that puts America’s warfighters and civilians at risk. We have offered to work directly with the Department of War on R&D to improve the reliability of these systems, but they have not accepted this offer. 

"In addition, without proper oversight, fully-autonomous weapons cannot be relied upon to exercise the critical judgment that our highly-trained, professional troops exhibit every day. They need to be deployed with proper guardrails, which don’t exist today."

AI and deepfakes control narrative

In the age of deepfakes, controlling the global narrative has, arguably, never been easier. In politically-charged environments, coordinated deepfake campaigns can significantly influence public opinion.

Amid the escalating conflict in Iran, social media platforms were inundated with fabricated images and videos. Prominent examples include fake images showing the US Navy ship and aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln damaged after Iranian strikes, which prompted a response from the US Central Command on social media platform X. 

“The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close,” the post reads. “The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.”

Numerous videos of US soldiers returning home in coffins were also spread on social media. These were legitimate pictures, but from the Iraq war.

Elsewhere, a video from a military video game – including one showing the downing of a US fighter – went viral. 

This handful of examples shows the use of AI does not stop in military camps and battlegrounds, but is also used by internet users to spread politically-charged messages as conflicts unfold.