An internal Pentagon investigation has found that the US relied heavily on artificial intelligence in preparation for a strike that hit an elementary school in Iran’s Minab earlier this year.
UN fact-finding report says US ‘committed war crimes’
The strike happened at the start of the US war with Iran . The missile strike on the school in Minab is one of the worst incidents of civilian harm resulting from US operations in decades. It added that some Pentagon personnel reportedly knew within hours that the US was responsible.
Pentagon investigators found that faulty intelligence, dated imagery and heavy dependence on AI contributed to the strike that killed 123 children, according to a report by Bloomberg. Citing officials involved in the internal investigation, the report said that two Tomahawk missiles hit the Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School on February 28.
The Pentagon said the incident was under investigation in March. The Bloomberg report said officials indicated that the Donald Trump administration ‘s order for an overwhelming air assault at the start of the war with Iran shortened the time available to finalise the targets. Officials said some US Central Command (CENTCOM) personnel relied too heavily on AI, especially Palantir’s Maven Smart System, expecting it to flag dated or inconsistent intelligence. The report noted that Palantir has said it “is not responsible for the underlying data nor identifying intelligence deficiencies”, and that there is no evidence its software was at fault for the botched attacks.
A UN-backed fact-finding mission said on Thursday that there were reasonable grounds to believe the US committed war crimes in two February airstrikes in Iran, including the one that hit the school in Minab.
