China Warns of Using AI in US Attack on Iran

US military/ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTOI via Instagram @usairforce

JAKARTA - The Chinese Ministry of Defense warned against the unrestricted use of artificial intelligence (AI) for military purposes, including in the United States' attack on Iran.

Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman JiangBin warned of the dangers of using artificial intelligence as a tool to violate the sovereignty of other countries, influence war decisions, and in handing over the power of human life and death to algorithms.

"This will not only erode the ethics of war and the mechanism of responsibility, but it can also lead to technology being out of control," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, March 12.

The United States military has confirmed the use of various artificial intelligence (AI) tools in the war against Iran.

The head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) Brad Cooper on Wednesday (11/3) said AI helped the US army process a large amount of data that used to take days to seconds, although he added that humans always made the final decision.

The confirmation comes amid growing calls for an independent investigation into the bombing of a school in southern Iran that killed more than 170 people, mostly children.

"The use of AI without restrictions for the military has even made the scene of disaster in the American film 'Terminator' a reality," added Jiang Bin.

China, said Jiang Bin, has always adhered to the principle of "human-oriented and intelligence for the good".

"We have always maintained that the application of artificial intelligence in the military field must be led by humans. We oppose the use of new technological advantages such as artificial intelligence to pursue absolute military hegemony as well as harming the sovereignty and territorial security of other countries," said Jiang Bin.

China, said Jiang Bin, is willing to work with all countries in the world to promote the multilateral governance of artificial intelligence centered on the UN, strengthen risk prevention and control, and ensure that the development of artificial intelligence always moves in a direction beneficial to the progress of human civilization.

The US-Israeli attacks have killed 1,300 people in Iran since February 28, 2026. The Iranian Red Crescent Organization said on Wednesday that the US-Israeli attacks had damaged nearly 20,000 civilian buildings and 77 health care facilities.

One report said the US attacked 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours using the most advanced AI ever used in warfare.

The "Maven Smart System" developed by the Palantir technology company is said to generate information from large amounts of classified data from satellites, surveillance, and other intelligence, helping provide real-time targeting and priority targets for military operations in Iran.

Within the intelligent system there is Anthropic's AI tool Claude. The merger of Maven and Claude has created a tool that accelerates the rate of attacks, reduces Iran's ability to carry out counterattacks and changes the planning of battles from taking weeks to real-time operations.

Anthropic itself is the first major AI company to work with classified data. Claude is said to have been "widely used" across the Department of Defense and in other security agencies, to analyze intelligence and plan operations.

But now Anthropic is suing the Trump administration after Washington blacklisted the company as a "supply chain risk" hours before the attack on Iran, effectively banning it from doing business directly or indirectly with government agencies.

The Donald Trump administration was also involved in a public feud with US AI company Anthropic after the company, which had previously had a contract with the Pentagon, insisted that its AI models not be used for full autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.

In the American military, this system allows one artillery unit to do the work of 2,000 staff with a team of only 20 people,

Claude has also been used to counter terrorist plots and in the arrest of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, but the attack on Iran is the first time the tool has been used in a major war operation.