Inside the AI Targeting Pipeline: Who Really Picks the Targets?

The phrase "AI picks the targets" is both true and dangerously misleading. In this episode, we break down the real military targeting pipeline — from Project Maven to CENTCOM's new Prometheus system — and examine where artificial intelligence is actually making decisions. We explore the shift from AI-curated target banks (where humans define the pool) to AI-generated target banks (where the machine finds novel targets no human asked about). With case studies including Israel's "The Gospel" system generating 200 targets per day versus human analysts' 50 per year, we confront the uncomfortable reality of automation bias, twenty-second "reviews," and what happens when the human in the loop becomes a ceremonial rubber stamp.