The AI wars have begun. Is it too late to stop them?
The AI wars have begun. Is it too late to stop them?
IDF officers reveal how AI is driving up the Gaza death toll
“Bring us more targets!” the Israel Defence Force (IDF) commanders shouted at intelligence officers. The commanders were directing the artillery and airstrikes in Gaza and demanded a “continuous pipeline of targets.”
The intelligence officers sending them targets turned to a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) program called Lavender, which the IDF devised to track and identify Hamas fighters.
The problem is Lavender is frequently incorrect, uses flawed or biased data, and, depending on how you set it, scoops up thousands of people who have very little connection to Hamas. One in ten of the 37,000 targets in its database were found to be identified incorrectly.
AI use exposed
The widespread use of AI in the brutal conduct of the IDF’s war on Hamas has been exposed by whistleblowers.
Testimony from six intelligence officers, all who have been involved in using AI systems to identify Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) targets in the war, was given to the journalist Yuval Abraham for a report published by the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call.
Cold calculations
“This is unparalleled in my memory,” said one intelligence officer who used Lavender.
The computer program contains a vast database of people in Gaza. It compares their activities, movements, social media posts and cell phone use with those of previously known Hamas senior fighters, churning out a list of targets.
“I would invest 20 seconds for each target at this stage and do dozens of them every day. I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval. It saved a lot of time,” one officer said.
The use of the AI program is contributing to the slaughter of Palestinians by the IDF. But that’s not the only reason.
Controls removed
The vast list of targets is combined with exceptionally relaxed rules that had been intended to avoid the deaths of civilians as collateral damage.
The final straw is the use of imprecise, powerful “dumb bombs” that flattened entire buildings, killing everyone inside.
As one intelligence officer explained, “We usually carried out the attacks with dumb bombs, and that meant literally dropping the whole house on its occupants. But even if an attack is averted, you don’t care—you immediately move on to the next target. Because of the system, the targets never end. You have another 36,000 waiting.”
Because of the system, the targets never end. You have another 36,000 waiting.
Where’s Daddy?
Even more catastrophic is a second AI program called “Where’s Daddy?” This AI analyzes live data such as cell phone signals to track the movement of targets and notify commanders when a person is likely home with his family – especially at night. The subsequent airstrike might kill the target, but dozens of family members, women and children die, too.
Branka Marijan is a Senior Researcher at the Canadian group Project Ploughshares, where she studies AI in combat.
She says, “The push to use AI systems in warfare is victimizing civilians. Instead of greater precision, AI seems to usher in greater carnage and destruction. Without clear and enforceable rules and norms on using all military AI systems, the dangers of escalating violence loom large.”
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How Canada helps build Israel’s fighter jets
(and many other countries’ jets, BTW)
One of my favourite online publishers, The Breach, posted a terrific video this week. Check it out.
More videos from The Breach
Special offer: the new book by former Health Minister Jane Philpott
In my day job defending public health care, I had the opportunity to meet former Health Minister Jane Philpott. The more I know about her – the more I admire her.
In Trudeau’s Cabinet, she was a staunch defender of the Canada Health Act—the legal basis for Medicare.
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