Israel incorporates AI technology into warfare activities: Report

As per recent information from Israeli officials, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have started to incorporate AI to choose targets for air attacks and plan wartime logistics amid the ongoing tensions between the country with occupied territories and arch-rival Iran. 

Officials claim that the military now chooses targets for air attacks using an AI recommendation system that can analyse enormous quantities of data, despite the fact that it won't comment on individual operations. 

AI models on the way 

Another AI model dubbed, ‘Fire Factory,’ which uses information on military-approved targets to calculate munition loads, prioritise and assign thousands of targets to planes and drones, and suggest a timeline, can then be used to quickly build subsequent attacks.

According to IDF experts, AI-based systems like Fire Factory are designed for such a situation. Col. Uri, the Chief of the army's digital transformation unit, stated,  "What used to take hours now takes minutes, with a few more minutes for human review," he added. "We achieve much more with the same number of people."

Both systems are controlled by human operators who examine and approve specific targets and air attack plans, suggested the IDF officer . Information has further suggested that the technology is still not governed by any international or state laws. While critics caution against the possibly fatal repercussions of depending on more autonomous systems, proponents contend that sophisticated algorithms may surpass human skills and assist the military in reducing casualties.

“If there is a mistake in the calculation of the AI, and if the AI is not explainable, then who do we blame for the mistake?” said Tal Mimran, a lecturer of international law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and former legal counsel for the army. “You can wipe out an entire family based on a mistake.”

Israel has focused on AI from 2021 

The IDF referred to the 11-day fighting in Gaza in 2021 as the first ‘AI war’ highlighting its use of AI to locate missile launchers and send out drone swarms. Israel has also conducted raids in Syria and Lebanon, purportedly to intercept weapons shipments to Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed militants.

The IDF has used AI for a long time, but in recent years it has spread such systems throughout several units in an effort to establish itself as a world leader in autonomous weaponry. Some of these systems were created by Israeli defence contractors, while others, like the StarTrack border control cameras, were created by the army and trained on tens of thousands of hours of footage to recognise persons and objects.