Warfare is Losing Its Humanity
The increasing use of artificial intelligence within military operations has dramatically changed the scope and strategy of modern warfare, raising questions on the morality of using AI to determine the consequential decisions of war. Photo courtesy of Benjamin West.
Throughout human development, as new technologies have emerged, it has become easier to alienate ourselves from the act of killing. Bows and arrows were among the first weapons to be invented, creating distance between the hunter and hunted. Later, gunpowder weapons, such as cannons and guns, increased the efficiency of warfare. The development of weapons of mass destruction over the past century allowed for the instantaneous erasure of hundreds of thousands of lives. With each development, the two sides of conflict–the aggressors and the victims–have grown more distant from each other. Now, artificial intelligence (AI) offers humans the ability to relegate the violent decisions and actions of war to algorithms and technology, leaving humans as solely the victims.
As countries compete for both military and technological advantages, it is imperative that we do not continue to further alienate ourselves from the violence of war. While the use of AI offers militaries increased efficiency and speed of attacks, it detaches the sentiments and feelings, key aspects of our humanity, that are often associated with the harming and killing of others.
This alienation can be seen through the ever-growing implementation of AI into military operations. On January 3, 2026, the United States launched air strikes throughout Venezuela and led a raid on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s safe house, capturing him. The strikes were planned with the help of Claude, an AI chatbot created by the American AI company Anthropic.
However, the January 2026 takeover of Venezuela directly conflicts with Anthropic’s terms and conditions, which prevent their technology from being used for the development of weapons, planning offensive operations, and domestic surveillance. Further, the company was not alerted of the technology’s use in the takeover until an inside contact confirmed the involvement shortly afterward.
Anthropic was founded by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei after they left OpenAI in 2020, citing concerns with the ethical usage of AI. Dario has been a vocal advocate of the potential benefits of AI technologies, while also warning against growth without limitations. He believes that the ultimate goals of the human race include achieving the ideals of the rule of law, autonomy, and democracy. Dario holds hope that, “AI simply offers an opportunity to get us there more quickly—to make the logic starker and the destination clearer.”
In contrast, companies like xAI and OpenAI believe that AI is the future of military actions. They see the rapid development of AI technologies as a new frontier of warfare between the US and its adversary, China, similar to the Cold War arms race. Yet, the rapidity of the development of AI often comes at the cost of ensuring moral safeguards for the technology.
Anthropic’s collaboration was intended to expand the powers of the Department of War (DOW) by supplementing its work with the capabilities of AI programs. This included experimenting with new methods of combat through artificially created scenarios, assisting with war planning, and ensuring the US has an advantage in the development of new technologies.
The extent of the government’s use of Anthropic’s technologies remains unclear. While it was reported that Claude was used in the Venezuelan air strikes, Anthropic officials initially refused to confirm the technology’s role in the takeover. Soon afterwards, though, Anthropic and the DOW engaged in a public dispute over the two’s relationship, revealing their disagreement on how the technology should be applied. At the root of the controversy are the restrictive terms regulating Claude, which limit the technology from being used for fully autonomous weapons and mass domestic surveillance.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave Anthropic a deadline of February 27, 2026 to compromise with the government on the terms of use for Claude. In the final hours of the negotiations, the DOW was willing to concede to the prohibition of the use of the technology for surveillance or the development of entirely autonomous weapons. However, it remained keen to use the technology to analyze internet searches, individuals’ travel or movements, and credit-card transactions. Anthropic was unwilling to meet this demand. After unsuccessfully trying to contact the founders to finalize negotiations, Hegseth announced that the DOW’s contract with Anthropic would be terminated. He also declared the company a supply chain risk, meaning that it could be at risk of sabotaging government operations for surveillance or offensive purposes, effectively blacklisting the company within the federal government.
The company has since sued the DOW in two federal lawsuits. In March 2026, the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in favor of Anthropic, allowing the company to maintain its federal contracts with defense agencies. However, on April 8, 2026, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied Anthropic’s motion against the government and prevented it from creating new contracts with the DOW. The ongoing court cases will determine not only the economic vitality of the company, but also the scope of the federal government’s capacity to declare domestic companies as threats.
The DOW has since signed agreements with other AI companies. In February 2026, xAI signed a deal with the DOW and was granted classified use. Then, just a day after the split with Anthropic, the DOW finalized a deal with OpenAI. Both companies require use of their technologies to “comply with the law” by adhering to copyright, respecting rights to privacy, and abstaining from espionage. Additionally, they cannot “harm people or property,” specifically referring to “unauthorized actions on behalf of others” and developing “bioweapons, chemical weapons, or weapons of mass destruction.”
In the days following the termination of Anthropic’s relationship with the DOW, Claude was the number one most downloaded app, beating out ChatGPT. This spike in interest presumably followed the exposure of the technology in the news cycle, but was also in part due to a larger movement of individuals purposefully moving away from the use of ChatGPT. QuitGPT is a protest movement encouraging individuals to stop using OpenAI’s technologies. Among other reasons, the drive discourages the use of ChatGPT because OpenAI’s president, Greg Brockman, was the largest Trump donor in 2025, and OpenAI’s GPT-4 technologies have been used in ICE’s resume screening tool. The movement has been growing steadily and saw a jump in interest following the announcement of OpenAI’s contract with the DOW.
When Anthropic lost its contract with the government, it demonstrated its commitment to creating the moral line in the development of AI. This move places the company in a lucrative position to be the moral paradigm in an industry filled with immoral companies and leaders. As more of the actions of war are ceded to AI, Anthropic has fought to limit the dominion of the technology. However, how much Anthropic can truly preserve humanity in a field dedicated to replacing humans remains to be seen. As the technology continues to advance, we need to ensure that we preserve our humanity alongside it.
Ella Hummel (CC ‘28) is a staff writer at CPR studying political science and comparative literature.