In 1943, a German pilot spared a shattered Allied bomber, choosing mercy where orders demanded execution. AI in warfare would not have paused. It would have scanned, confirmed, and fired, not from hatred but from code. Humans still draw fragile lines in war: a flag, a hand, a refusal. Machines do not see lines, only patterns, and once flagged as enemy, context collapses.
From a silenced keynote at the UN’s AI for Good Summit to $47 billion in defense contracts, Big Tech’s entanglement with AI warfare reveals a troubling reality: the same firms promoting “AI for Good” are profiting from its use in war. Behind the glossy rhetoric of ethics and innovation lies a structural paradox, when profit depends on military AI, peace itself becomes a threat to business. This article explores how tech giants have entered the military-industrial complex, why their profit motives create a “peace trap” where conflict fuels innovation, and what it would take to realign AI with the pursuit of peace.
