Every war offers the military the opportunity to test out new weaponry, and the war in Gaza is no exception. In a world in which artificial intelligence (AI) is invading every aspect of our lives, it comes as no surprise that it is also playing a major role in the war. This situation has received little analysis in the mainstream media, and a recent article in The Guardian sheds light on its use in Gaza.
Every war is also a propaganda war and Israel claims that it is doing its best to avoid civilian casualties. One reality that contradicts this is the astounding number of journalists that have been slaughtered: 61 as of December 4. This has led to accusations that journalists are being specifically targeted in a context where those who were not already there are being prevented by Israel from entering Gaza.
Concerning Hamas, a statement from Israel’s military claims that AI “produces precise attacks on installations associated with Hamas while inflicting great damage to the enemy and minimal harm to non-combatants.” However, “Look at the physical landscape of Gaza,” notes Richard Moyes, a researcher quoted by the Guardian. “We’re seeing the widespread flattening of an urban area with heavy explosive weapons, so the claim that there’s precision and narrowness of force being exerted is not borne out by the facts.”
A source for the Guardian article who has been involved in the creation of lists of potential Hamas targets reveals disturbing aspects of the process: “It’s really like a factory. We work quickly and there is no time to delve deep into a target. The view is that we are judged according to how many targets we manage to generate” Another source states that the “emphasis is quantity and not quality”
Commenting on the process, Richard Moyes explains that commanders “don’t necessarily know how the list has been created or have the ability to adequately interrogate and question the targeting information.” He notes that “as humans come to rely on these systems they become cogs in a mechanized process and lose the ability to consider the risk of civilian harm in a meaningful way.” This echos the analysis of the autonomization of technology laid out in books by French anarchist theorist Jacques Ellul (La technique ou l’enjeu du siècle; Le système technicien; Le bluff technologique).