IDF reportedly uses ‘Lavender’ AI to identify assassination targets in Gaza

“This was despite knowing that the system makes what are regarded as ‘errors’ in approximately 10 per cent of cases, and is known to occasionally mark individuals who have merely a loose connection to militant groups, or no connection at all,” he wrote, adding many targets were attacked at their family home at night because it was “easier to locate” them.

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“The result, as the sources testified, is that thousands of Palestinians – most of them women and children or people who were not involved in the fighting – were wiped out by Israeli airstrikes, especially during the first weeks of the war, because of the AI program’s decisions.”

Quoting his sources, Abraham said Lavender had picked some 37,000 Hamas militants, “most of them junior, for assassination”.

Guterres’ remarks come on the heels of the decision by Israel to dismiss two officers over a missile strike that killed seven aid workers, including Australian Zomi Frankcom, earlier this week, in what it described as a “grave mistake stemming from a serious failure”. Israel hasn’t indicated whether AI was used in that attack.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted last month a nonbinding resolution to promote “safe, secure and trustworthy” AI systems. The US-led proposal, which was co-sponsored by more than 110 countries including China, didn’t cover the military use of AI.

Asked earlier if the Biden administration would raise military uses of AI at the Security Council, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the US didn’t have “any intention” of doing so. She said the resolution “lays down the foundation” for how to address AI in future.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told CNN the US had not verified the content of the media report.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) denies AI was used to identify suspected extremists and targets.

“The IDF does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist. Information systems are merely tools for analysts in the target identification process,” the IDF said in a statement.

It added that IDF directives mandated analysts to conduct independent examinations to verify that the identified targets meet the relevant definitions in line with international law and Israeli guidelines.

Bloomberg, Reuters

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