The Pentagon has revised its military doctrine: AI will be able to independently select targets for engagement

The U.S. Department of Defense has revised its targeting doctrine, indicating that artificial intelligence (AI) may be given a more significant role in this process in the future.

As reported by Oxu.Az, this was announced by Bloomberg agency, which reviewed the department's internal documentation.

As noted, the new principles envision the possibility of transitioning to "systems in which AI initiates actions under human oversight," the agency writes, emphasizing that under current rules, "humans initiate actions." "The speed of future combat operations and the advances of our adversaries in the field of AI may require the U.S. Armed Forces to begin employing fully autonomous systems," the agency quoted an excerpt from the chapter of the document dedicated to future targeting procedures.

"The changes made to our targeting doctrine are the result of a comprehensive, multi-year process and incorporate lessons learned from various situations," a representative of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff told the agency. A Pentagon official, in turn, stated that "AI technologies used by the Department of Defense do not select or engage targets autonomously" and that "command retains control over every decision."

Earlier, American media reported that the U.S. Armed Forces used the Maven Smart System flight management platform based on the Claude AI model for target selection when planning an operation against Iran.