It Turns Out the US Military Really Did Use AI to Blow Up a School Full of Iranian Children

As the United States continues its war on Iran, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the conflict becomes increasingly evident. AI is shaping the ideological battlefield at home, with President Donald Trump utilizing generative AI for wartime propaganda, and US tech companies and data centers becoming military targets. Beyond propaganda, AI is crucial in guiding US Central Command's targeting decisions, leading to tragic consequences.

According to Bloomberg's investigation, an AI system played a significant role in the February 28th air strikes on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' school, resulting in the deaths of over 150 people, including at least 123 children. The Pentagon's probe concluded that outdated intelligence and over-reliance on the AI targeting system were the primary factors contributing to the attack.

Military investigators interviewed by Bloomberg emphasized that the tragedy resulted from a series of small errors, rather than a single misstep. These errors, they suggested, were exacerbated by the involvement of an unidentified AI targeting system, likely similar to the one employed during the initial days of the conflict, which facilitated over 2,000 air strikes on Iranian targets within a four-day period.

This revelation starkly contrasts with President Trump's initial downplaying of the US responsibility for the attack, even suggesting the possibility of AI-generated images and footage of the massacre. The UN fact-finding commission has found reasonable grounds to deem the US attacks as war crimes, underscoring the girls' school incident as just one glaring example.

The Pentagon's investigation into the incident remains classified, but it is evident that AI has already proven its lethal capabilities, capable of causing the deaths of hundreds of innocent lives without the need for sentience.