Anthropic's AI tool Claude, embedded in the Pentagon's Maven Smart System, has enabled a single U.S. Army artillery unit to perform the work of 2,000 personnel with a team of just 20 people. The finding comes from a Georgetown University study of the system's deployment with the Army's 18th Airborne Corps, as reported by "Hvylya", citing The Washington Post.

The AI system has been far more than a research experiment. Claude's integration into Maven began in late 2024, and military commanders who now oversee the Iran campaign have used earlier versions of the system during the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and to support Israel after the October 7, 2023, attacks. Navy Rear Adm. Liam Hulin, now deputy director of operations at Central Command, said the system pulled in information from 179 sources of data. "Centcom is heavily using MSS," Hulin said, referring to Maven by its acronym.

NATO has also adopted the technology. After signing a contract with Palantir last year, the alliance portrayed its version of Maven as giving commanders "video-game like abilities" to oversee battles. The rapid spread reflects a broader shift: over 20,000 U.S. military personnel were using Maven as of last May, a number that grew dramatically under the Trump administration's push to expand the system across the armed forces.

Claude has also been deployed beyond conventional warfare - it played a role in countering terror plots and in the raid that captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. But the Iran campaign marks its first use in major war operations.

Paul Scharre, executive vice president at the Center for a New American Security, called the pace of AI adoption remarkable. "It is notable that we're already at the point where AI has gone from hypothetical to supporting real-world operations being conducted today," he said. But he warned of risks: "AI gets it wrong. We need humans to check the output of generative AI when the stakes are life and death."

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