Bombing Campuses, America Hinders Iran's Development of Artificial Intelligence
That morning, dust still lingered in the air of Tehran. Amid the rubble of collapsed buildings, a mathematics professor continued his online class. Not in an intact lecture hall, but in the midst of the ruins. There, science endured, fragile yet unyielding.
The attack on Sharif University of Technology a few days ago was not merely a blow to physical infrastructure. It was like a silent yet resounding message: in the modern era, what is contested is not just territory, but knowledge. Especially one thing that has now become the heart of a new civilisation—artificial intelligence.
In circulating reports, the university’s rector stated that the targeted facilities included an AI centre housing important databases. For Iran, it was not just a laboratory. It was a symbol of technological independence amid global pressures, as reported by Al Jazeera.
But what exactly is artificial intelligence that it becomes a target? Simply put, artificial intelligence, or AI, is the ability of machines to imitate the way humans think: learning from data, recognising patterns, making decisions, even understanding language. From automatic translators to recommendation systems, from autonomous vehicles to medical diagnostics, AI is slowly permeating nearly every aspect of modern life.
The world is moving rapidly towards that. The latest reports from Statista and McKinsey & Company show that by 2025–2026, more than 4 billion people worldwide will have used AI-based services, either directly or indirectly, through search engines, social media, productivity apps, to digital health services. Meanwhile, a McKinsey survey notes that around 55–60 per cent of global companies have adopted AI in their operations.
Those figures are not mere statistics. They are markers of an era of change. At this point, AI is no longer just technology. It has become the new infrastructure of civilisation, like electricity in the 20th century or the internet in the early 21st century. That is why, when an AI centre is destroyed, it is not just a building that collapses. What is threatened is the future.
Sharif University’s rector, Masoud Tajrishi, stated that his institution had been developing AI models in the Persian language over the past two years and serving hundreds of companies. This statement reveals one important thing: AI is not just for big countries or global corporations, but also a tool of sovereignty for developing nations.
This is where conflict changes face. If wars once fought over oil, now they also target data. If ports and factories were once destroyed, now laboratories and research centres are the targets.