Project Maven

A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare

By: Katrina Manson

Narrated by: Katrina Manson

The dramatic story of the secretive decade-long Pentagon campaign to bring AI-powered targeting systems onto the battlefield.

In 2017, a small crew gathered in a windowless Pentagon room to put AI at the heart of how America makes war. Led by a Marine Corps colonel haunted by the deaths of US troops and prospect of AI-enhanced rivals, the Project Maven team raced to send AI into combat, igniting controversy and forever changing the US military. Summoning the mayhem of a tech startup, the group wrestled Pentagon bureaucrats and each other, enlisted an initially reluctant Silicon Valley, and convinced US forces to deploy little-tested AI systems in hot wars. Maven fielded algorithms to identify targets at speed and scale, developed AI-infused command systems, and learned where AI fails. Today, its lessons are folded into developing autonomous technology set to be on the frontlines of future war. Based on more than 200 interviews with Project Maven insiders and opponents, this compelling narrative explains how AI warfare, once the stuff of apocalyptic science fiction, has become a reality

©2026 Katrina Manson (P)2026 Recorded Books

Human Robots

What happens when human robots create killer robots? The world becomes safer of course! I've never experienced AI making a mistake or misunderstanding what I asked it. So load it up with bombs, cuz sometimes you gotta kill a bunch of people in order to save lives and platitudes that don't make sense are as good as commandments if we keep repeating them.

Engrossing story. Scary reality.

I was very impressed by the access and sources that the author got, as well as the crafting of the narrative. I didn’t expect a story about the military and its adoption of a new technology to be such a page-turner. It is fascinating and alarming.

urgently important story, reading is imperfect

The heretofore unknown story of one brilliant and determined Pentagon General to modernize the tools of warfare – at a clearly frightening human cost – is deeply researched by the Financial Times' Katrina Manson. It would, however, have benefited from a different reader. Manson's delivery is fairly one-note, and quotations and narrative tend to blend together. I had to run it back and repeat multiple times to make sure I was getting the more complex technical details.

Outstanding insights

Well researched with lots of information about the early days of development for Project Maven. Timely as the Iran War is using this stuff extensively. Can’t recommend it highly enough as it really gives a good understanding of what we are going to need for modern warfare technology and how we are screwed if we don’t embrace AI.

Skip it

I was definitely interested in the topic. But book jumps all over the place chronologically and never develops a very clear sense of even the primary topic - Project Maven. Instead it meanders back and forth and seems to be very editorial and subjective without a real vetting of the opinions it proffers. Way too many personalities are presented subjectively with barely more than the surface being scratched to afford the reader an opportunity to conclude.