AI makes it “easier than ever” for adversaries to target U.S. military, experts say

September 16, 2026 / 1:21 PM EDT / CBS News

Amid the United States' war with Iran, an Iran-linked adversary used American-developed artificial intelligence to try to target U.S. naval forces, according to a report released by Anthropic last week.

The group, which Anthropic did not identify but labeled a "threat actor," used Claude AI to compile open-source information to identify U.S. naval positions and develop targeting recommendations, according to the company. The account was banned and Anthropic shared the information with the U.S. government to disrupt the threat, it said.

Scenarios like this could become increasingly common, experts said, as America's adversaries turn to AI to boost military operations.

Anthropic's findings are consistent with how Iran has been using technology to support its strategic objectives, including in its conflict with the U.S. and Israel, experts said. But, the report sheds light on how increasingly capable AI models can expedite the once-tedious task of aggregating and analyzing large volumes of publicly available data.

"They're using it to enhance the way they already operate and the tactics or the techniques that they're already used to doing," said Nikita Shah, a senior fellow with the Intelligence, National Security, and Technology program at…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/