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Israel is using AIs to determine where to drop bombs.

Some of those bombs were made in the United States.

Laptop Keyboard
Soldier with Gun
Urban
Artificial Intelligence Directing Tens of Thousands of Bombs

Together with Local Call, +972 published investigative reports based on the testimony of 6 whistleblowers in November and April, revealing that Israel is using artificial intelligence to generate lists of targets for air strikes. 

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"The Gospel" is used to generate target lists for buildings and infrastructure. "Lavender" is used to general kill lists of human targets. "Where's Daddy" is used to schedule strikes against these human targets when they arrive home at the end of the day.​​

Israel is dropping thousands of American-supplied bombs using an AI to decide when and where.

As of May, 2024, Israel has dropped tens of thousands of bombs in Gaza since October--that is a lot. And Gaza is densely populated, almost 40% are children 14 years old and younger.  As of May 17, 2024, the Gaza Health Ministry estimates 35,233 dead and 79,141 injured, and those numbers don't include individuals who are unaccounted for, which could include another 10,000 people at least. Bombs are the cause of the vast majority of these casualties. The United States supplies an estimated 69% of Israel's arms imports. That means that Israel is dropping thousands of American-supplied bombs using an AI to decide when and where, killing a lot of people and leveling most of the habitable environments.

When the AI gets it wrong can we really call that collateral damage, or is it murder?

Research is already underway into various ways that digital technology is used against the Palestinians, including AI systems. Sophia Goodfriend, a PhD candidate in cultural anthropology at Duke University is conducting research at the intersections of surveillance, artificial intelligence, and digital rights in Palestine-Israel. Her article on automated surveillance in Hebron's Old City reports on interviews with surveilled Palestinians, a former IDF general, and IDF veterans about a biometric identification system Israel deploys in Hebron. Goodfriend pointed to Israel's use of AI in bombing campaigns in Gaza in June, 2023.​

 

Initial Questions:

  • What has Israel said publically about these AI systems?

  • What research is being done by 3rd parties to better understand how these AI systems work?

  • How can these AI systems be evaluated from a data science perspective?​

  • How can these AI systems be evaluated from an ethics of Jesus perspective?

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