May 27, 2026 · 29 min · 8 segments
The recent strikes in Iran were planned, executed and assessed with Ai. Aleks Krotoski and Kevin Fong find out how Ai is transforming war and asking is the human still meaningfully in the loop? We…
Elke SchwarzGuest
Keith DearGuest
Aleks KrotoskiHost
Kevin FongHost
[instrumental music] Look, E- Elke is roundly unconvinced that technology reduces the risk of collateral damage and harm in the conduct of warfare, and in that she's in sharp disagreement with Keith.
More than that, she worries about the dehumanizing effects of this technology, and the things that Keith offers up to us as advantages, particularly the speed with which you can conduct warfare, she sees as a problem, too.
So Keith's arguing that AI promises more accuracy and more efficiency and less war, right? That's what he's saying.
But don't worry, he also says, humans are always gonna be in the loop, until they're not.
Elke is arguing that we need to understand who is making these promises, and she says that the drivers of these technologies are industry, which requires us to be critical of the motivations of the people who are selling them.
And I was so compelled by her argument about the VC system and how that is what is making this different.
Venture capital funding requires returns, and VCs invest on the basis that they're gonna get returns pronto.
So the good news is, Kevin, that we have a whole other program to investigate this, and I cannot wait to dig in to truly understand where systems like Maven are coming from and why people who are within government have decided that this is what they want to invest in.
Yeah, and the, and the more I think about it, perhaps Keith and Elke aren't as far apart as, as maybe we think.
[instrumental music] Look, E- Elke is roundly unconvinced that technology reduces the risk of collateral damage and harm in the conduct of warfare, and in that she's in sharp disagreement with Keith.
More than that, she worries about the dehumanizing effects of this technology, and the things that Keith offers up to us as advantages, particularly the speed with which you can conduct warfare, she sees as a problem, too.
So Keith's arguing that AI promises more accuracy and more efficiency and less war, right? That's what he's saying.
But don't worry, he also says, humans are always gonna be in the loop, until they're not.
Elke is arguing that we need to understand who is making these promises, and she says that the drivers of these technologies are industry, which requires us to be critical of the motivations of the people who are selling them.
And I was so compelled by her argument about the VC system and how that is what is making this different.
Venture capital funding requires returns, and VCs invest on the basis that they're gonna get returns pronto.
So the good news is, Kevin, that we have a whole other program to investigate this, and I cannot wait to dig in to truly understand where systems like Maven are coming from and why people who are within government have decided that this is what they want to invest in.
Yeah, and the, and the more I think about it, perhaps Keith and Elke aren't as far apart as, as maybe we think.
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