AI Company Exposes Terrorists’ Secret Weapons Program

A new report reveals that Houthi rebels in Yemen are using AI to develop guided rockets and missiles. The artificial intelligence company Anthropic reports that militants are using its software, and the AI company is unable to stop the militants from hitting all their targets.

It’s raising serious concerns about AI, its accessibility, and its continual development. Should tech companies be reined in, or do we have to keep pushing forward to stay ahead of our adversaries?

According to the Associated Press:

Anthropic says Claude users in northern Yemen, territory controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, tried to use the AI model to develop advanced missiles. . . .

Anthropic said the users of the accounts, which it blocked after identifying them, did not succeed in “fielding an operational device” but did carry out a failed test of a guided rocket. It said it knows that because the users returned to its Claude chatbot to find out why it failed.

In a report released Thursday, the company did not identify the users. But mountainous northern Yemen is controlled by Houthis, suggesting that the rebels are pursuing more sophisticated weapons at a time when they are already wielding an array of drones, missiles and other munitions in their campaign to seize more territory in Yemen and damage Saudi Arabia’s oil exports.

The same tools available to ordinary, law-abiding Americans are also available to the bad guys – not just here, but all around the world. In this case, Houthi militants reportedly used AI chatbot Claude to attempt to develop and improve weapons systems, including guided rockets and more advanced missile technology.

They were essentially using AI much the same way ordinary people use it every day – asking questions, testing ideas, seeing what worked, figuring out what didn’t, and then going back to the system to try again. In other words, they were iterating.

Thankfully, Anthropic says its safeguards blocked many of the requests. Those guardrails appear to have prevented some of the most dangerous information from being provided. But they admit it couldn’t block everything.

Over the past few days, some of the biggest names in AI have been sounding increasingly serious warnings about the tech they’re helping create. The conversation has ranged from AI being used for weapons development to much broader questions about whether the technology is advancing faster than anyone can realistically control.

Some of those warnings can sound almost apocalyptic. And history teaches us to be careful about declaring that every new technological development will end the world. Think about Y2K. There was genuine concern about what might happen when computers rolled over into the year 2000, but the catastrophic scenarios many feared never materialized.

That doesn’t mean the concerns were irrational. It means people identified a problem and worked diligently to address it, preventing any worst-case scenarios. We should hope the same thinking is being applied here.

AI may very well be the next industrial revolution. Certainly, it’s the next major technological shift that will change – and really IS changing the way we work and live. Attempting to shut it down completely isn’t realistic. The proverbial genie is out of the bottle.

And it’s worth noting that many of the companies leading the development of AI are here in the United States. And while Americans may disagree with these companies or criticize how they operate, at least a level of transparency and accountability comes with companies operating under American law. The same cannot necessarily be said everywhere else. And that brings us to the global issue.

Even if we were to put regulations on American companies, throttling AI development, other countries like China will keep racing ahead without those restrictions, and that creates another serious national security concern.

So, this latest news is just a reminder that AI is a complicated subject. It’s a delicate balancing act. We don’t want to be left behind, but we also don’t want to lose control. And when we hear warnings coming from the people who understand this technology best, we must listen.

At the same time, America cannot afford to fall behind adversaries who may have very different ideas about how AI should be used.

The real question is whether we can develop the right safeguards to prevent it from being exploited by terrorists and America’s adversaries without surrendering America’s leadership in one of the most important technological races of our time.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more discussion of the report that terrorist organizations are now using AI to help carry out attacks. We also discuss a new development in one of our Supreme Court cases, as well as the news that blatantly antisemitic hip-hop artist Macklemore has finally been removed from a major concert tour, and much more.

Watch the full broadcast below: