Israel’s reported use of AI in its Gaza war may explain thousands of civilian deaths

For years, experts have warned about the dangers of using AI in warfare. Much of the coverage of their warnings has focused on the nightmare scenario of Terminator-style autonomous weapons, but that’s not the only dystopian possibility in the technology’s battlefield deployment, as Israel has reportedly demonstrated in its war against Hamas in Gaza.

The Israeli sister publications +972 and Local Call yesterday published a lengthy account of an AI-based system called Lavender, which the Israeli Defense Forces have been using to identify targets for assassination (+972 also shared the accounts with the Guardian). Historically, assassinations have only been allowed when the target has been thoroughly assessed and found to be a senior Hamas operative. But this time, following the horror of the Oct. 7 attacks, it seems the IDF engaged in a much more indiscriminate program of killing, the article said.