US looking at report that Israel used AI to identify bombing targets in Gaza

The United States was looking into a media report that the Israeli military has been using artificial intelligence to help identify bombing targets in Gaza, White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby told CNN yesterday.

According to Reuters, Kirby told CNN the US had not verified the content of the media report published in +972 Magazine and Local Call on Wednesday. It cited Israeli intelligence officials involved in the reported program known as “Lavender”.

The media report said the Israeli army had marked tens of thousands of Gazans as suspects for assassination, using the AI system with little human oversight.

The Israeli Defence Forces deny that 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 occupation army said in a statement.

The statement added that IDF directives mandate analysts to conduct independent examinations, in which they verify that the identified targets meet the relevant definitions in line with international law and Israeli guidelines.

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