Reports that Israel uses an Artificial Intelligence system to determine targets in Gaza has garnered some international scrutiny—particularly from the U.N. secretary general.
Topline
A report from an Israeli magazine claiming Israel uses an artificial intelligence program to identify potential targets in its war against Hamas in Gaza—a claim that Israel has denied—is drawing scrutiny from world leaders, particularly in the wake of the Israeli military’s killing of World Central Kitchen aid workers that Israel called a “grave mistake.”Key Facts
The report, from magazine +972 and Hebrew-language outlet the Local Call, cited six Israeli intelligence officers who claimed that Israel used the program, called “Lavender,” to identify up to 37,000 Palestinians allegedly linked to Hamas and their residential homes as potential military targets with little human oversight.
On Friday, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply troubled” about reports that Israel was using artificial intelligence to identify targets in densely populated residential areas, adding “life and death decisions” should not be “delegated to the cold calculation of algorithms.”
The United States has not independently verified the report, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told CNN on Thursday—but officials are looking into it, he said.
The reports have also drawn concern from experts—Adil Haque, for instance, a law professor at Rutgers University, tweeted the report was “the nightmare of every international humanitarian lawyer come to life.
