AI, a dead student, and US airstrikes: How a civilian became caught up in a new age of warfare

As debate grows over the role of AI in military strikes in the bombing of Iran, scrutiny has turned to civilians caught up in the destruction. An investigation by The Independent and conflict monitoring group Airwars explores the death of a 20-year-old killed in US strike in Iraq in 2024 - the first known victim of an airstrike in which the use of AI-assisted targeting was acknowledged. Namir Shabibi and Alex Croft report


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