Project Maven

A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare

By: Katrina Manson

Narrated by: Katrina Manson

The dramatic story of the secretive decade-long Pentagon campaign to bring AI-powered targeting systems onto the battlefield.

In 2017, a small crew gathered in a windowless Pentagon room to put AI at the heart of how America makes war. Led by a Marine Corps colonel haunted by the deaths of US troops and prospect of AI-enhanced rivals, the Project Maven team raced to send AI into combat, igniting controversy and forever changing the US military. Summoning the mayhem of a tech startup, the group wrestled Pentagon bureaucrats and each other, enlisted an initially reluctant Silicon Valley, and convinced US forces to deploy little-tested AI systems in hot wars. Maven fielded algorithms to identify targets at speed and scale, developed AI-infused command systems, and learned where AI fails. Today, its lessons are folded into developing autonomous technology set to be on the frontlines of future war. Based on more than 200 interviews with Project Maven insiders and opponents, this compelling narrative explains how AI warfare, once the stuff of apocalyptic science fiction, has become a reality

©2026 Katrina Manson (P)2026 Recorded Books

Terrifying but amazing

Getting into how the programs were setup and pitfalls they encountered as they scaled was so interesting.

AI and a speed of light decisions right or wrong ,

is there a new grey area in morality where we can blame not the machine but on the logic we programmed.

Thought provoking . Astounding eye opening “new” AI technology with its reframing of morality based on if we don’t do it , its consumption of us is inevitable. History of Ai development in U.S. military is layed out including the military underbelly driving decisions and innovation.

‘We need the technology ‘ , ‘we will be moral in our application , gatekeeping , and will provide guide rails for future generations who will grow up with a AI that is ubiquitous to our technological solutions. ‘ We know the lessons of social media and chasing problems as society bubbles them up to danger levels.

We are moving forward more with more rapid decisions in life or death situations where the decision makers are forced to churn thru the assumption that Ai uses to drive plans. This book lays out all of the benefits and perceived risks that our military is wading thru and the world drivers that invent certain behaviors and perceived risks and rewards.

No solutions are outlined, it isn’t solved but the world of AI is here and maturing. The moral dilemma is still developing, the new demands of guide lines is on a time scale that is slipping out of the human decision maker’s hands and moving to predictive models , agents put in place by machine learning training that yields its own morality.

Outstanding insights

Well researched with lots of information about the early days of development for Project Maven. Timely as the Iran War is using this stuff extensively. Can’t recommend it highly enough as it really gives a good understanding of what we are going to need for modern warfare technology and how we are screwed if we don’t embrace AI.

yikes

that was terrifying i have read a lot of sci fi books but none of them scared me more than this book

Human Robots

What happens when human robots create killer robots? The world becomes safer of course! I've never experienced AI making a mistake or misunderstanding what I asked it. So load it up with bombs, cuz sometimes you gotta kill a bunch of people in order to save lives and platitudes that don't make sense are as good as commandments if we keep repeating them.