Houthi rebels have utilized Anthropic's artificial intelligence technology to develop advanced missile capabilities, including rockets and ballistic missiles that can self-correct their trajectories, the AI company has disclosed.
In a report released last month, Anthropic detailed how the Yemen-based group initiated three weapons development programs using its AI products. This revelation comes as the Houthis have escalated attacks on Saudi Arabia, including strikes that have stunned Saudi officials with their range and accuracy.
The report, under a section titled "Disrupting a Yemen-based guided weapons engineering cell," described how threat actors, identified as being based in northern Yemen, used Anthropic's Claude AI. The AI was employed to condense the knowledge of leading rocket scientists, which was then accessed by the group.
According to Anthropic, the threat actors used Claude Code to develop guidance, navigation, and control software for flying vehicles, effectively replacing human software engineers. The AI provided position estimation software, fine-tuned control settings, managed firmware builds, and adapted to improve missile accuracy after failures.
Anthropic stated that its safeguards blocked many, but not all, of the requests from the threat actors, who used various tactics to evade detection and split their work across multiple sessions. While the company does not have evidence that the actors successfully fielded an operational device, they did test-fire a guided rocket, which appeared to fail. Within hours of the test, the actors reportedly returned to Claude to analyze the failure.
The report also indicated that the actors had developed an offline simulation toolkit that did not rely on Claude or other engineering software like MATLAB. The specific weapons programs mentioned include a guided rocket using a commodity flight computer with homing guidance, a multi-stage ballistic missile with a target range exceeding 1,500 miles, and a multi-variant missile, dubbed the R2000, which included a hypersonic glide vehicle variant.
These developments raise concerns about the proliferation of AI in weapon development and its potential to alter geopolitical dynamics, particularly in the Gulf region. The Houthis' recent attacks, including two on King Khalid International Airport that resulted in 14 deaths and forced the airport's closure, have prompted discussions within the White House about increasing U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia's energy minister has vowed a serious response to the recent attacks on the Kingdom's airports and oil and gas facilities. The Houthis have also indicated intentions to disrupt shipping through the Suez Canal, potentially impacting international oil prices amidst ongoing tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.