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# Houthis Turn to AI in Attempt to Develop Advanced Missiles
- URL: https://www.theglobalvoice.com/houthis-turn-to-ai-in-attempt-to-develop-advanced-missiles/
- Published: 2026-09-14T11:35:29.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T11:35:29.000Z
- Description: A cell in Houthi-controlled Yemen used Claude AI to help develop guided rockets and ballistic missile technology. One rocket was even test-fired before apparently failing. The case shows how AI could put advanced engineering knowledge into the hands of armed groups.
- Author: TGV Desk
- Tags: conflict, middle-east, geopolitics, Live Wire, has-audio, The Day So Far

Artificial intelligence may be entering a new and far more dangerous phase of modern warfare.

A group operating from Houthi-controlled northern Yemen used Anthropic's Claude AI to help develop guided rockets and ballistic missile technology, according to a new threat report from the American AI company. The users were working on three separate weapons programmes and used AI to write software normally requiring trained engineers.

Anthropic did not publicly identify the group as the Houthis. But the activity was traced to northern Yemen, where the Iran-backed movement controls most territory and operates the country's most sophisticated missile programmes. The company eventually blocked the accounts after discovering what they were doing.

The most striking part is how the AI was being used.

The group reportedly used Claude Code to develop guidance, navigation and control software essentially the systems that help a missile remain stable, navigate and reach its intended destination. Instead of relying entirely on a team of software engineers, the users assigned different Claude instances different jobs. One could write code, another conduct research and another review the work. Humans then coordinated the process.

Their ambitions went well beyond a simple rocket.

One project involved a guided rocket built around commercially available technology, including a phone-class flight computer. Another involved a multi-stage ballistic missile intended to travel more than 2,000 kilometres. The most ambitious programme explored a family of missiles that included a hypersonic glide vehicle — technology that even major military powers have struggled to perfect.

There is no evidence that the group successfully produced these advanced weapons.

But it appears they moved beyond theory.

Anthropic said the users conducted a test of a guided rocket. The test apparently failed, and within hours they returned to Claude asking it to help determine what had gone wrong. By the time Anthropic shut down the accounts, the group had also created an offline simulation toolkit that could continue functioning without Claude.

The development is particularly significant because the Houthis already possess a large missile and drone arsenal. Their weapons have been used against commercial shipping in the Red Sea and against targets across the region. Much of their more advanced technology has historically depended on Iranian assistance. A UN panel concluded that the Houthis could not develop many complex missile and drone systems without foreign support, while IISS assessments have found Iranian technology throughout their arsenal.

AI could begin changing that relationship.

It cannot give an armed group advanced factories, specialised materials or sophisticated engines. Building a reliable long-range or hypersonic missile remains enormously difficult. Weapons analyst Trevor Ball told AP that the Houthis are nowhere near possessing the technical and manufacturing capacity needed to produce a genuine hypersonic missile.

But AI can provide something else: knowledge.

Tasks that once required access to specialised engineers can increasingly be assisted by commercially available AI. Code can be written, designs reviewed, simulations built and failed tests analysed. For groups trying to develop more of their weapons locally, that could lower at least some of the technical barriers.

And that may be the larger warning from Yemen.

For decades, controlling advanced weapons meant controlling physical things: missile components, specialised machinery, engineers and military technology.

Now some of that expertise can be accessed through a chatbot.

Anthropic stopped these accounts. The uncomfortable question is how many others have not yet been found.