'Human Pulled The Trigger, Machine Helped': Ex-CIA Chief On Iran School Bombing

It was a human who pulled the final trigger during the bombing at the compound of Shajarah Tayyebeh Elementary School in the southern Iranian city of Minab that killed at least 156 people, according to David Petraeus, former director of the United States's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). According to the retired military officer, the decision was made with the help of the artificial intelligence, but ultimately, a human was responsible for making the choice.

The statement tells a different story than an earlier report that said an AI 'kill chain' was behind US strikes that killed at least 123 children.

'Humans pulled the trigger, machine helped', the former CIA chief said while speaking at the NDTV World Summit.

The general was advocating for military missions carried out by highly precise artificial intelligence when he was asked about the bombing in Iran's Minab.

"That was not the machine making the decision, I believe. It was a human that decided, and it was helped by AI with targeting. AI is used extensively," he said.

"There have been mistakes, and you've seen these in various settings in the Middle East as well as, I'm sure, in Ukraine as well. These still are humans making the final decision, in a sense, to pull the trigger or press the button," he added.

He went on to advocate for a machine that would make decisions based on "very, very specific criteria and direction programmed by a human."

Recently, a Bloomberg investigation found that inside the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversaw the attack, officials said some personnel relied too much on the AI embedded in the Maven Smart System to plan the initial attack on Iran as the US and Israel launched the war against the Islamic Republic.

Developed by Palantir Technologies, the AI-enabled system uses more than 150 different data inputs to create a coherent set of information to inform commanders' decisions on complex military operations -- from targeting to command and control.

Since US President Trump returned to the White House, a Bloomberg probe found that the US Defence Department has heavily relied on Maven, making it a cornerstone of the US military apparatus. Several former senior US military officials now reportedly work for Maven's parent company, and their role is to keep the software functioning inside secure military environments.

Officials said some military personnel expected the AI-enabled system to identify and flag outdated information or inconsistencies in intelligence used to assess potential targets. It remains unclear why they had such expectations.