Tehran: Israel and the USA have been bombing the Iranian capital for weeks.Image: MAGO/Ircs
AI is taking on a growing role in the war against Iran. Israel and the USA should use systems that can identify targets much faster than humans.
March 13, 2026, 7:25 p.mMarch 13, 2026, 7:25 p.m
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, artificial intelligence is playing a growing role in the war against Iran. Accordingly, they set USA and Israel various AI systems to plan and carry out military operations more quickly. The technology helps, among other things, to evaluate intelligence information, identify possible targets and analyze damage after attacks.
Above all, military planners expect this to provide a time advantage. AI can evaluate large amounts of data that are difficult for human analysts to handle. According to U.S. officials, people are often only able to review a small portion of the intelligence information collected. Systems with machine learning, on the other hand, could automatically search through communication data, satellite images or video recordings and provide clues to possible targets.
Critics warn against misjudgments
The technology is also used in operational planning. AI models can run through different scenarios and calculate which combination of weapons, flight routes and logistics has the greatest chance of success. This means that complex plans can be adapted much more quickly than before.
However, critics warn of possible wrong decisions – which can neither be checked by humans nor their potentially serious consequences prevented. The report refers to an alleged attack in which, according to US investigators, dozens of children may have been killed at an Iranian school. In the Gaza War, too, the suspicion was repeatedly expressed that Israel was selecting its targets with the help of artificial intelligence – which, however, was not unequivocally reliable. (Nile)
Sources used:
- wsj.com: “How AI Is Turbocharging the War in Iran” (paid) (English)