Under attack from the militant Houthi group in neighboring Yemen, Saudi Arabia has asked numerous allies for help. That includes the United States, even though media report that US President Donald Trump refused when Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman asked him to take direct military action against the Houthis. However the US is providing Saudi Arabia with intelligence, which includes a targeting tool that uses artificial intelligence, or AI.
A September report by US broadcaster CNN, quoting several unnamed American officials, said that between 100 and 200 US soldiers were in Saudi Arabia as part of new joint force command to facilitate this. The US personnel were helping the Saudis "use a targeting tool that allows military officers to see in real-time what is happening on the battlefield," CNN reported. Officials said the system in Saudi Arabia was similar to that known as the Maven Smart System, or MSS for short, which the US military has also used as it sought targets in Iran, Iraq and Syria.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video MSS came out of what's known as Project Maven, the US's flagship artificial intelligence program for the military, first launched in 2017. MSS itself is an AI-enabled digital platform that "aggregates, organizes and visualizes vast streams of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data," analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington explained in a June text. The software system identifies patterns in data coming from, for example, live satellite feeds or drone cameras and then labels potential targets such as possible rocket launchers, tanks or suspicious vehicle convoys.
Previously human military analysts would have had to look at a wide array of different sources to try to find those, the CSIS researchers wrote. It was difficult and, in the case of hours of satellite or drone footage, almost impossible. But MSS now brings hundreds of sources together, analyses them all, then flags possible targets.
It also calculates the best method of hitting the target. Tech commentator Bilawal Sidhu, a former Google product manager, has described the MSS set up as like a "Google Earth for war." Using the MSS dramatically speeds up what is known as "the kill chain" — that is, the time it takes to detect a target, decide if it's dangerous and then order a strike. When the US military used MSS while attacking Iran in late February, the AI-powered system facilitated hits on more than 1,000 targets within the first 24 hours of the war.
Previously American soldiers were hitting about 100 targets a day. Up until recently, the long-simmering civil war in Yemen had been comparatively calm following an informal ceasefire negotiated in 2022. The Houthi rebel group has held large parts of northern and western Yemen since 2015.
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