To Attack Iran, the U.S. Military Poses This Question to Anthropic's Claude AI

KOMPAS.com - The United States military’s attack on Iran in a joint operation with Israel is inextricably linked to the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI). They are said to have consulted Claude AI, developed by Anthropic, to plan the attack on Iran.

The facts emerged after US President Donald Trump officially issued an order banning Anthropic AI. The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) is known to be one of the parties using Anthropic’s services on the ground.

The Large Language Model Claude is confirmed not to have been used to pilot drones or determine bombing targets autonomously. This AI was instead focused on back-end data analysis tasks. Its crucial roles include dissecting intelligence data, translating enemy communications intercepted in real time, and optimising military logistics supply chains.

Claude has proven highly proficient at sorting and processing raw data on a massive scale. This analytical ability is considered invaluable to personnel amid combat.

Its deployment on the battlefield is somewhat ironic. Not long ago, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth labelled Anthropic a ‘national security risk’. The blocking instruction, however, apparently provides a six-month transition period to wind the system down gradually.

The U.S. government’s anger towards Anthropic stemmed from the stance of its CEO, Dario Amodei. The company has firmly refused to grant access to Claude to the U.S. government if used for autonomous weapons systems and mass surveillance programmes.

When Anthropic refused, OpenAI, its main competitor, took that step. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman faced heavy criticism after announcing his company’s deal with the U.S. Department of Defence to deploy the ChatGPT model on government networks.

The deal with the Pentagon immediately sparked protests under the ‘Cancel ChatGPT’ campaign on social media, such as X and Reddit. The public worries that OpenAI’s technology could become a mass-surveillance tool under post-9/11 legislation.

This controversy has ultimately shifted trends in the AI industry. A Business Insider report notes that Anthropic’s principled stance against yielding to military demands has earned broad public sympathy.

As a result of this exodus, Claude’s app climbed to the top of the free apps list in the Apple App Store over the past weekend.