Bloomberg Businessweek Project Maven, the Dawn of AI Warfare
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Mar 30, 2026 
Katrina Manson, Bloomberg reporter and author of Project Maven, is a tech and national security journalist who covered AI’s leap into combat. She discusses the Pentagon’s rush to deploy AI, how industry players like Palantir and cloud firms got involved, early battlefield uses such as Kabul, mistakes and limits of algorithms, and the broader risks of AI-driven targeting and escalation.
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MAVEN Smart System Turns Data Into Faster Targeting
- Project Maven evolved into MAVEN Smart System: a Google Maps–style battlefield screen that fuses 150+ data feeds with computer vision and LLMs to speed targeting decisions.
- Katrina Manson describes Claude and other AI tools offering courses of action and weapon‑to‑target pairing in live operations.
Kabul 2021 Proved MAVEN At Scale
- MAVEN's first major field test was Afghanistan 2021 where computer vision counted crowds at Kabul airport to send situational awareness back to headquarters.
- That deployment proved multiple users could stay on the system simultaneously without crashes, linking forward units to the Pentagon.
Palantir Stepped In After Google's Exit
- After Google withdrew from Project Maven due to employee protests, Drew Cukor approached Palantir and forged a reluctant partnership to build the field platform.
- Palantir initially resisted UI work and AI claims but collaborated via late‑night efforts to deliver the system.
