How Project Maven taught the military to love AI
TL;DR
In the first 24 hours of the assault on Iran, the US military struck more than 1,000 targets, nearly double the scale of the "shock and awe" attack on Iraq over two decades ago. This acceleration was made possible by AI systems that speed up the targeting process. Chief among them is the Maven Smart System.
Nauti's Take
The opportunity here is transparency: Manson's book brings military AI out of the tech bubble and into democratic debate — a real step forward for accountability. The risk is unmistakable: doubling strike capacity in 24 hours shows how AI accelerates lethal decisions, with no international rules to govern it.
Anyone working at the tech-defense border should treat this as a wake-up call, not a feature.
Summary
In the first 24 hours of the assault on Iran, the US military struck more than 1,000 targets, nearly double the scale of the "shock and awe" attack on Iraq over two decades ago. This acceleration was made possible by AI systems that speed up the targeting process.
Chief among them is the Maven Smart System. In her new book, Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare, journalist Katrina Manson investigates the development of Maven from its inception in 2017 as an experiment in applying computer vision to drone footage.
Sources