The US, China, Russia, and others are ramping up their contest over AI-backed autonomous weapons and military systems in what experts compare to mutually assured destruction.

A memo from Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg confirms the Pentagon will designate Palantir's Maven AI as an official program of record, embedding its weapons-targeting technology across all US military branches by September 2026.

The US military relied on Anthropic's Claude AI for intelligence assessments and target identification during Saturday's strikes on Iran, even as President Trump had just ordered federal agencies to immediately cease using the tool — exposing a stark contradiction at the heart of Washington's AI policy.