But some worry AI’s involvement in mission planning creates significant risks.
“This prioritisation of speed and scale and the use of force then leaves very little time for meaningful verification of targets to make sure that they don’t include civilian targets accidentally,” Prof Elke Schwarz of Queen Mary University of London said.
“If there’s a risk of killing and you co-opt a lot of your critical thinking to software that will take care of these things for you, then you just become reliant on the software,” she added. “It’s a race to the bottom.”
In recent weeks, Pentagon officials have faced questions as to whether AI tools such as Maven were used to identify targets in the deadly strike on a school in the Iranian town of Minab. Iranian officials said the strike killed 168 people, including around 110 children, on the opening day of the war.
In Congress, a number of senior Democrats have called for increased scrutiny of AI platforms like Maven. Rep Sara Jacobs – a member of the House Armed Services Committee – called for clearly enforced rules and regulations about how and when AI systems are used.
“AI tools aren’t 100% reliable — they can fail in subtle ways and yet operators continue to over-trust them,” she told NBC News last month.
“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.”
But Mosley pushed back against suggestions that the speed of his company’s platform is rushing decision making at the Pentagon and potentially creating dangerous situations. He instead argued that the speed at which commanders are now taking action is a “consequence of the increased efficiency” that Maven has enabled.
Citing “operational security”, the Pentagon declined to comment when approached by the BBC on how AI systems like Maven will be used in future or who would be held responsible should something go wrong.
But officials in the US appear to be moving forward with plans to further integrate Maven into its systems.
Last week, the Reuters news agency reported that the Pentagon had designated Maven as “an official program of record” – establishing it as a technology to be integrated long-term across the US military.
In a letter obtained by Reuters, deputy Defence Secretary Steve Feinberg said the platform would provide commanders “with the latest tools necessary to detect, deter, and dominate our adversaries in all domains”.