AI ASSIST: U.S. forces utilized popular AI tool to execute mission to capture Venezuela’s Maduro
In a bold and unprecedented military operation last month, U.S. forces conducted strikes in Caracas, Venezuela, leading to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were subsequently transported to New York City for arraignment.
According to reports, the classified raid involved intense combat, with President Trump describing how U.S. troops "blasted through steel doors like it was papier-mâché."
A key element of the operation was the use of Anthropic's AI tool Claude, accessed through a partnership with Palantir Technologies, which provides data analytics software to the Department of Defense and federal law enforcement agencies. Claude, an advanced large language model developed by Anthropic—a company founded in 2021 by former OpenAI executives emphasizing AI safety—assisted in tasks ranging from document summarization to potentially more complex operational support, marking Anthropic as the first AI developer involved in classified missions by the renamed Department of War under the second Trump administration.
Anthropic's involvement has sparked controversy, as the company's usage policies explicitly prohibit Claude from applications involving violence, weapons development, or surveillance. Despite assurances from a source that deployments comply with these guidelines and that Anthropic maintains visibility into both classified and unclassified uses, the firm has raised internal concerns about Pentagon applications, prompting Trump administration officials to consider canceling a $200 million contract awarded in the summer of 2025.
This reflects broader ethical debates in AI, where companies like Anthropic prioritize "constitutional AI" to align models with human values, yet face pressure from government contracts amid advancing military AI capabilities, such as autonomous drones.
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War Secretary Pete Hegseth underscored the strategic importance of AI, declaring, "The future of American warfare is here, and it's spelled AI," and noting U.S. efforts to counter technological advances by adversaries like China and Russia.