We will learn in the future that 2026 was the first year of true AI warfare. Analyzing millions of pieces of data simultaneously, as fast as possible, and synthesizing lists of attacks is to AI like adding numbers is to a computer. Sure, right now, they are saying humans have decision making authority over every action. That is not true. Humans are not checking the work of thousands of identified targets based on countless pieces of intercepted data when you have minutes to decide to strike (or to defend). That is simply impossible. The fastest intelligence will win. The fastest intelligence is certaintly not humans. Note we aren't even talking about smart (though they are absolutely smart). A few percent error rate is no big deal, better than losing tens of thousands of soldiers.
AI warfare thrives on small, large numbers of attack vectors. It is true asymmetric warfare in that the 1000 drones can outmanuever the 1 warship. The drones don't need to destroy the warship; they need to cripple everything around it, to overwhelm its ability to communicate and to defend and attack. It is a great feature that the tiny attack vectors are orders of magnitude cheaper than their enormous counterparts.
AI opens the field for novel attacks. You can target thousands of individuals simultaneously, or hundreds of electric substations, or dozens of data centers. I haven't asked it, but I'm sure there are quite creative ways to cripple an organization with explosives beyond trying to target their most fortified resources. There are also many novel attacks beyond blowing things up (we are watching in real time as our genius human commanders attempt to grapple with the fact that blowing things up isn't working so well anymore): cyberattacks via allowing AI to run wild finding exploits that humans cannot (Glasswing is a big deal and only what is publically announced), run of the mill biological warfare delivery (an old fashioned cold virus getting 20% of the population sick at once is the reality, not some targeted genetic assassination bullshit, nor some ridiculous plague), calling the top 50000 members of the opposing government over and over again, manipulating the masses to form opposition sentiment.
And so the only winning move is to be smarter, faster, and more numerous, or to immediately blow everything up as bigly as possible. Unfortunately it is much cheaper and more accessible for most entities to accomplish the second option. Everyone worries about the legaility and the laws of war, but these codes are not advanced enough to encompass the types of attacks we will see, nor combat what people will do in otherwise losing situations. Don't forget that AI warfare is literally less costly to human life than the old alternatives! what an advancement which should justify these means.
Wikipedia has terms for this like hyperwar or cyberwar. Those obviously sound stupid and are prone to rapidly becoming anachronistic. This is just warfare. It will always be warfare.
PS Warfare is a really good movie.