Pentagon Uses AI to Speed Up Military ‘Kill Chain’ Operations

The Pentagon is increasingly relying on AI-powered systems to enhance its "kill chain"—the process of identifying, tracking, and eliminating threats. While AI is not being used as a weapon, it is significantly accelerating military decision-making, according to Dr. Radha Plumb, the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Officer.

“We obviously are increasing the ways in which we can speed up the execution of the kill chain so that our commanders can respond in the right time to protect our forces,” Plumb told TechCrunch.

AI’s Expanding Role in Military Strategy

AI is proving valuable in planning and strategizing by:

• Simulating battlefield scenarios to evaluate response options.

• Analyzing sensor data to track potential threats.

• Providing intelligence insights to military commanders.

While AI model developers initially restricted military use, companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta changed their policies in 2024 to allow AI deployment in defense and intelligence operations—provided it does not directly cause harm.

Tech Giants Enter the Defense Sector

Several major AI companies have forged partnerships with defense contractors:

• Meta partnered with Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen to integrate its Llama AI models into defense agencies.

• Anthropic teamed up with Palantir for AI-powered intelligence solutions.

• OpenAI struck a similar deal with Anduril in December.

• Cohere has been quietly working with Palantir on military AI applications.

Ethical Concerns and the Future of AI in Warfare

Despite the Pentagon’s increasing reliance on AI, ethical debates persist. Anthropic’s policies, for instance, prohibit AI from being used in ways that could cause harm or loss of human life. However, Dr. Radha Plumb insists that AI in military operations remains a human-in-the-loop system, meaning humans will always make the final decision on the use of force.

When asked whether the Pentagon purchases and operates fully autonomous weapons—those without human oversight—Plumb firmly rejected the idea on principle.

“No, is the short answer,” Plumb said when asked whether the Pentagon operates fully autonomous weapons. “As a matter of both reliability and ethics, we’ll always have humans involved in the decision to employ force.”

Plumb dismissed the notion that AI systems are independently making life-and-death decisions, calling it “too binary” and less like “science fiction.” Instead, she described the Pentagon’s approach as a collaboration between humans and machines, with senior leaders actively involved in decision-making at every stage.

The Debate Over AI Weapons

As AI becomes more integrated into defense technology, a growing debate questions whether autonomous weapons should be permitted to make life-and-death decisions. Some argue that the U.S. military already employs such systems.

Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey recently noted on X that the U.S. has a long history of acquiring and deploying autonomous weaponry, including CIWS turrets—automated defense systems designed to detect and destroy incoming threats.

Meanwhile, some AI researchers, including Anthropic’s Evan Hubinger, believe that military AI use is inevitable, making direct collaboration essential to ensuring its responsible implementation.

Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, echoed this sentiment in a recent interview with the Financial Times: "The position that we should never use AI in defense and intelligence settings doesn’t make sense to me. The position that we should go gangbusters and use it to make anything we want — up to and including doomsday weapons — that’s obviously just as crazy. We’re trying to seek the middle ground, to do things responsibly."

What This Means

The integration of AI into military operations is no longer hypothetical—it’s happening now. While the Pentagon argues that AI is merely assisting in decision-making, critics fear this could be a step toward more autonomous warfare.

The big question remains: Will AI’s role in defense stay limited to intelligence and logistics, or will future policies expand its use in direct military actions?

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.