Opinion

AI is making huge changes in how wars are fought. We aren’t ready for what comes next

Military decisions now run faster than human cognition, compressing the time they take from hours to seconds

By Omri Raiter Fox News

Published June 18, 2026 9:00am EDT

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There is a new golden rule of combat: The side that controls the data pipeline controls the war.

Picture a soldier on the battlefield. They spot an enemy target, analyze. Think through a plan, and its ramifications. Then, they react. Those crucial few minutes of human cognitive process — the power over life and death — are being dramatically reduced from hours to seconds, day by day. When that cycle runs faster than a human adversary can think, we stop making decisions. Combat on autopilot.

We see that cycle with Iran, and what has been happening in Ukraine for the past four years. We are watching a fundamental restructuring of how military power works, and most of the institutions responsible for governing it are still thinking in the previous century. And this is all due to how AI is rapidly changing warfare.

For decades, military strategists have understood war through a succinct lens: observe, orient, decide, act. This routine was elegant and ruthless. The side that moves through that cycle faster........

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