Defense official reveals how AI chatbots could be used for targeting decisions

A Defense official revealed that the US military might use generative AI systems to rank target lists and recommend strike priorities, which humans would then vet. This potential use case involves feeding possible targets into a generative AI system for classified settings, allowing humans to ask the system to analyze information and prioritize targets based on factors like aircraft location. OpenAI's ChatGPT and xAI's Grok could theoretically be used, as both companies recently reached agreements for their models to be used by the Pentagon in classified settings. This development follows increased scrutiny over military AI systems, including a strike on an Iranian school that the Pentagon is investigating. The use of generative AI is reducing the time required in the targeting process, but the official did not detail how much additional speed is possible if humans must double-check outputs.