AI Is Coming for the Chain of Command

The voice belonged to Gen. Tareq Saleh. It was telling his men to fall back. Or so it seemed.“Advances and retreats are a normal part of war,” the recording reasoned. “Pull back toward Mocha.”It was mid-September. Houthi fighters were pressing Yemen's Red Sea coast from three directions. The comms moved through the phones of the National Resistance, a coalition loyal to the Hadi-led government, the way it often does when battles are being lost: fast and full of confusion. Clausewitz termed this the ‘friction’ of warfare. A social media account with half a million followers pushed the message out.By the time the general's media office caught up, the damage was done. Saleh had given no such order, they announced. The audio was an AI deepfake, an attempt to sow confusion and warp the reality of the battlefield. From then on, authentic statements would come only through official channels. Anything else should be considered a lie..On September 10, Mocha fell anyway. Sitting 45 miles up the coast from the Bab al-Mandeb strait, it was the last port fully controlled by Yemen's internationally recognized government. Within days, the Houthis had taken Dhubab, reached Perim Island, and are in...