Israel is using AI to bomb targets in Gaza: Report

In the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza, Israel's military has reportedly incorporated artificial intelligence (AI) to aid in identifying bombing targets in the affected regions, according to an investigation by +972 Magazine.

The investigation involved insights from six Israeli intelligence officials linked to the program.

The Israeli officials quoted in an extensive investigation by the online publication jointly run by Palestinians and Israelis.

The AI tool, known as "Lavender," as revealed by Israeli officials in the joint investigation, carries a reported 10% error rate.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF), when questioned about the report, did not dispute the existence of the AI tool but denied AI was being used to identify suspected terrorists.

In a statement it emphasized that "information systems are merely tools for analysts in the target identification process," and that Israel tries to "reduce harm to civilians to the extent feasible in the operational circumstances ruling at the time of the strike."

Quoting IDF, the report said "analysts must conduct independent examinations, in which they verify that the identified targets meet the relevant definitions in accordance with international law and additional restrictions stipulated in the IDF directives."

However, one official told +972 "that human personnel often served only as a "rubber stamp" for the machine's decisions" and typically devoted only around 20 seconds to each target - ensuring they are male - before authorizing a bombing.

The investigation surfaces amidst escalating international scrutiny following targeted airstrikes that claimed the lives of foreign aid workers delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

Israel's siege of Gaza has killed more than 32,916 people, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, and has led to a spiralling humanitarian crisis where nearly three-quarters of the population in northern Gaza are suffering from catastrophic levels of hunger, according to a United Nations-backed report.

In January, the investigation's author, Yuval Abraham, that his work looking into how the Israeli military has been "heavily relying on artificial intelligence to generate targets for such assassinations with very little human supervision."

The Israeli military "does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist," the IDF statement on Wednesday said.

But its analysts use a "database whose purpose is to cross-reference intelligence sources, in order to produce up-to-date layers of information on the military operatives of terrorist organizations."

Human officers are then responsible for verifying "that the identified targets meet the relevant definitions in accordance with international law and additional restrictions stipulated in the IDF directives," according to the IDF statement, a process also described by +972.