Will AI Plan and Execute Future Wars?

“Artificial intelligence is the future not only of Russia but of all of mankind,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in 2017. “… Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”

Since then, Putin has witnessed the consequences of AI in warfare through the United States’ military operations in Venezuela and Iran, both partners of Russia, and on its own battlefield in Ukraine.

Two critical aspects will determine who will lead this sphere in the future: AI capacity, such as data centers and innovation, and a willingness to delegate responsibilities to the machine.

While the U.S. clearly leads in AI investment, the Pentagon is constrained not only by regulations but also by the standards of private companies. For example, Anthropic declined a U.S. government request for unrestricted use of its Claude AI even though the government vouched to use it only as far as is “legally” permissible.

One of Anthropic’s main concerns was that the Pentagon could use its AI to power autonomous weapons to kill without human approval.

The possibility of a private company restricting China or Russia in the same way is unthinkable.

A Politico poll found that, among Western powers, Germans are the most willing to leave the decision-making to the machine.

An online survey, by the independent London-based polling company Public First for Politico, interviewed 10,289 people in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and France. In four of the countries, only 26 percent of respondents said militaries could rely on AI rather than human decision makers. In Germany, 33 percent were happy to give life-and-death decisions to AI.

Speaking with Alexander Müller on his podcast It’s in You, former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said:

One very concrete example is that AI is already being left to decide, for example in drones, who to actually kill or not. So you just have to be aware of the scale of this step—it’s something that has become the norm in just a few years. And now you can say that sometimes it’s good that it’s not subject to human error. But you can also argue the other way around and say that sometimes it wouldn’t be a bad thing if there was still a human being behind it as a regulating factor. You can argue this forever in one direction or the other, but it shows the dynamic that has suddenly taken hold here.

For a long time, the Trumpet has pointed to Baron Guttenberg as the man who will most likely lead Europe into its prophesied destiny. His interests in AI may play a critical role in this future.

Putin’s statement that “whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world” may not be too far off.

Germany’s Interest in Military AI

While most people don’t have Germany on their radar when it comes to AI development, it is playing a leading role in Europe, especially when it comes to military AI. Europe’s largest AI defense start-up is Germany’s Helsing, which has been producing drones for Ukraine.

Germany’s military leaders are learning from the war in Ukraine.

Reuters wrote on March 25: “German Army Eyes AI Tools to Expedite Wartime Decision-Making.”

The use of drones and ⁠modern sensors provides military commanders with vast amounts of battlefield data that can be analyzed with the help of AI tools. The U.S. has made headlines for allegedly using AI to analyze data for rapid target recognition in Iran. But we are just seeing the beginning of what AI can do.

German Army Chief Lt. Gen. Christian Freuding told Reuters, “The Ukrainians exploit data which ​they have collected over four years of war. Based on this data, the AI ​can deduce how the enemy has acted in similar situations in the past—and recommend countermeasures.” He said this not only saves time but also manpower and allows Ukraine to “break ​the adversary’s decision-making cycle.”

Yet he claimed that the “task of taking analytical and balanced decisions will always remain with the human, with the soldier.”

This could quickly change. One might reason, If we can empower the machine to not only suggest targets but also execute them, we may save the lives of our soldiers and civilians. It would be irresponsible not to use AI this way.

In the meantime, Germany is learning from the best: Germany has access to American military AI systems through nato.

German Gen. Markus Laubenthal, the chief of staff of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, adopted the Palantir Maven Smart System nato last year. He said at the time:

Innovation is core to our warfighting ability. Maven Smart System nato enables the alliance to leverage complex data, accelerate decision-making and by doing so, adds a true operational value.

Freuding told Reuters that he ​did not rule out a European AI system but said America offers advanced ​solutions that are more practical at the moment. “Personally, I think it’s important that we get something up and running quickly. Of course, issues like data sovereignty and security need to ⁠be taken ​into account,” he said.

Germany is the world’s third-largest economy and its fourth-largest military spender. Together with the rest of the EU, it is rising into a superpower that will rival the U.S., as prophesied in Daniel 2, Revelation 13 and 17.

Even though Europe has made some notable progress in its unification, many still mock the power bloc, believing it will never be able to rival the U.S. However, rapid advances in AI could suddenly change the game. Currently, Germany and the EU benefit from American AI systems, which China and Russia don’t have access to. Will this access allow them to develop their own unrestricted system more rapidly?

This may be hard to imagine in the overregulated EU, but Bible prophecy indicates we could be in for a surprise—specifically in the field of military AI.

Forecasting Military Strategies

In 2024, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry recorded a Key of David program about a passage in Daniel 8 that reveals the rise of a European strongman. Verse 23 says this leader will understand “dark sentences.” In that program, “AI and Understanding Dark Sentences,” Mr. Flurry said this could refer to difficult technology such as AI.

In “Germany Is Arming for World War III,” Mr. Flurry further explained how Germany is using the war in Ukraine to test weaponry and develop military AI capabilities.

The foundation is being set for the rise of a sophisticated military leader who will accelerate this trend. Another passage in Daniel 11 shows how this leader could use AI specifically.

“He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time” (verses 23-24).

In 2012, Mr. Flurry wrote concerning the word forecast: “The New Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance states that it means the future. So this man will have forecasting ability—a limited prophetic power. Through this man, Satan, who knows Bible prophecy, will forecast his plots.”

The word devices is from the same root word in Hebrew as the word forecast. Strong’s Concordance says it means thought, plan, purpose or invention. This man will make plans and bring them to pass—as they align with Bible prophecy.

In a 2024 sermon, Mr. Flurry said that “AI can help them to forecast. … I believe its importance has been prophesied. This man is going to be forecasting, and he’s going to be a tool for Satan the devil and will be possessed by the devil!”

If AI is used to analyze battlefield data, it could be used to forecast successful military strategies, as well as enemies’ responses and countermeasures.

AI is capable of predicting outcomes based on various factors that are far beyond what humans can comprehend. Combined with industrial and military tools, it also provides an unprecedented opportunity to bring those plans to fruition. Could this enable this prophesied leader to forecast the future and execute his plans with almost no one able to stop him?

Concerning Guttenberg, Mr. Flurry said, he “is really passionate into AI, and he believes that Europe can lead the world—and that’s exactly what will happen.”

Many view German-led Europe as little more than an observer of important events: They observe what is happening in Ukraine, they observe how the U.S. uses AI in warfare, and they observe developments in China. But this observer is much more involved than one may think, and Bible prophecy shows that the observer is about to shock the world.

Europe is about to get a leader who will win the war over AI warfare and use it in unfathomable ways, as Mr. Flurry explained in “AI and Understanding Dark Sentences”.