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FILE – Pages from the Anthropic website and the company’s logo are displayed on a computer screen in New York, Feb. 26, 2026.<\/p>\n
Patrick Sison\/AP Photo\/Patrick Sison<\/p>\n
FILE – U.S. Navy Adm. Frank Bradley testifies before the Senate Committee on Armed Services on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 28, 2026.<\/p>\n
Cliff Owen\/AP Photo\/Cliff Owen<\/p>\n
FILE – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, May 12, 2026, in Washington.<\/p>\n
Alex Brandon\/AP Photo\/Alex Brandon<\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) \u2014 The Trump administration is pushing to unleash the power of artificial intelligence for the U.S. military while facing calls to put up guardrails around the rapidly developing technology from some companies \u2014 and even notes of caution from top leaders in uniform.<\/p>\n
Adm. Frank Bradley, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told attendees of a recent annual special forces conference in Tampa, Florida, that troops \u201chave to be very careful about how we come to (AI\u2019s) employment and its inspiration into the delivery of lethality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley said he can see a future where AI determines what targets to hit but that \u201cwe, as humans, have to have the confidence that … it’s going to deliver violence only where we intend it to be delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The remarks from Bradley, who oversees the units that handle the military\u2019s most difficult and dangerous operations, about the need to ensure safeguards come as his boss, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is pushing to rapidly evolve the military through AI. It is a push that has led to clashes with some tech companies worried about safety measures.<\/p>\n
Hegseth has insisted that the Pentagon be allowed to use the technology any legal way it sees fit. He told an audience of SpaceX employees in January he would reject any AI models \u201cthat won\u2019t allow you to fight wars\u201d and that his vision for the technology was systems that operate \u201cwithout ideological constraints that limit lawful military applications.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n AI’s use in the military is part of the Republican administration’s larger push to grow the capability it sees as a unique American advantage even as it faces pressure to ensure responsible safeguards.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump abruptly called off plans to sign a new AI executive order hours before an expected White House ceremony over concerns the measure could dull America\u2019s edge on AI technology.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re leading China, we\u2019re leading everybody, and I don\u2019t want to do anything that\u2019s going to get in the way of that lead,\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n Two differing AI worlds within the military<\/p>\n When asked about Bradley’s remarks, a Pentagon official said efforts are focused on using AI to create \u201cfunctional battlefield tools\u201d that can help troops come up with and identify targets more quickly and, as a result, speed up strikes on those targets. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to offer more candid remarks.<\/p>\n Officials at U.S. Special Operations Command talked about AI not as something that will help eliminate targets but rather as a tool that can offer troops more time to focus on their mission.<\/p>\n Sgt. Maj. Andrew Krogman, the top enlisted official for U.S. Special Operations Command, said at the conference that he sees AI handling administrative tasks to free up operators or helping modernize how the command does business.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Melissa Johnson, the top acquisition official for the command, said AI should be \u201creducing the cognitive workload on mundane tasks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re leveraging AI more and more, but it\u2019s not to replace operator judgment, it\u2019s to enhance it,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Helen Toner, interim executive director at Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, said those differing descriptions about AI in the military are both true.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a huge number of potential uses for AI in these kinds of bureaucratic settings, which the U.S. military is actively exploring,\u201d Toner said.<\/p>\n Lt. Gen. Michael Conley, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, told a congressional committee<\/a> in May that his troops used AI \u201cbots\u201d to convert top secret intelligence down to a secret classification within seconds to make it easier to share with drone operators on the ground during the Iran war.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n However, there is no doubt that AI also is helping the military find and strike targets.<\/p>\n