Prince.Skeletor
Don’t Be Like He-Man
They call it the fukkin gospel ??????
The pace is astonishing: In the wake of the brutal attacks by Hamas-led militants on October 7, Israeli forces have struck more than 22,000 targets inside Gaza, a small strip of land along the Mediterranean coast. Just since the temporary truce broke down on December 1, Israel's Air Force has hit more than 3,500 sites.
The Israeli military says it's using artificial intelligence to select many of these targets in real-time. The military claims that the AI system, named "the Gospel," has helped it to rapidly identify enemy combatants and equipment, while reducing civilian casualties.
But critics warn the system is unproven at best — and at worst, providing a technological justification for the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians.
"It appears to be an attack aimed at maximum devastation of the Gaza Strip," says Lucy Suchman, an anthropologist and professor emeritus at Lancaster University in England who studies military technology. If the AI system is really working as claimed by Israel's military, "how do you explain that?" she asks.
Other experts question whether any AI can take on a job as consequential as targeting humans on the battlefield.
"AI algorithms are notoriously flawed with high error rates observed across applications that require precision, accuracy, and safety," warns Heidy Khlaaf, Engineering Director of AI Assurance at Trail of Bits, a technology security firm.
Despite these concerns, most experts agree that this is the beginning of a new phase in the use of AI in warfare. Algorithms can sift through mounds of intelligence data far faster than human analysts, says Robert Ashley, a former head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. Using AI to assist with targeting has the potential to give commanders an enormous edge.
"You're going to make decisions faster than your opponent, that's really what it's about," he says.
Here's what's known about the Gospel, and what it means for the future of warfare.
"The attraction is clear," he says. Most modern militaries are shrinking in size, and need technology to help bridge the gap. AI systems can help them search enormous quantities of intelligence data to try and find the enemy.
According to posts on the Israeli military's website, the Gospel was developed by Israel's signals intelligence branch, known as Unit 8200. The system is relatively new — one of the earliest mentions was a top innovation award that it won in 2020.
The Gospel is actually one of several AI programs being used by Israeli intelligence, according to Tal Mimran, a lecturer at Hebrew University in Jerusalem who has worked for the Israeli government on targeting during previous military operations. Other AI systems aggregate vast quantities of intelligence data and classify it. The final system is the Gospel, which makes a targeting recommendation to a human analyst. Those targets could be anything from individual fighters, to equipment like rocket launchers, or facilities such as Hamas command posts.
"Basically Gospel imitates what a group of intelligence officers used to do in the past," he says.
But the Gospel is much more efficient. He says a group of 20 officers might produce 50-100 targets in 300 days. By comparison, Mimran says he thinks the Gospel and its associated AI systems can suggest around 200 targets "within 10-12 days" — a rate that's at least 50 times faster.
The pace is astonishing: In the wake of the brutal attacks by Hamas-led militants on October 7, Israeli forces have struck more than 22,000 targets inside Gaza, a small strip of land along the Mediterranean coast. Just since the temporary truce broke down on December 1, Israel's Air Force has hit more than 3,500 sites.
The Israeli military says it's using artificial intelligence to select many of these targets in real-time. The military claims that the AI system, named "the Gospel," has helped it to rapidly identify enemy combatants and equipment, while reducing civilian casualties.
But critics warn the system is unproven at best — and at worst, providing a technological justification for the killing of thousands of Palestinian civilians.
"It appears to be an attack aimed at maximum devastation of the Gaza Strip," says Lucy Suchman, an anthropologist and professor emeritus at Lancaster University in England who studies military technology. If the AI system is really working as claimed by Israel's military, "how do you explain that?" she asks.
Other experts question whether any AI can take on a job as consequential as targeting humans on the battlefield.
"AI algorithms are notoriously flawed with high error rates observed across applications that require precision, accuracy, and safety," warns Heidy Khlaaf, Engineering Director of AI Assurance at Trail of Bits, a technology security firm.
Despite these concerns, most experts agree that this is the beginning of a new phase in the use of AI in warfare. Algorithms can sift through mounds of intelligence data far faster than human analysts, says Robert Ashley, a former head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. Using AI to assist with targeting has the potential to give commanders an enormous edge.
"You're going to make decisions faster than your opponent, that's really what it's about," he says.
Here's what's known about the Gospel, and what it means for the future of warfare.
The AI targeting system Israel uses can generate targets at a rapid rate
Militaries all over the world have been experimenting with AI for more than a decade, according to Anthony King, professor of defense and security studies at the University of Exeter in England."The attraction is clear," he says. Most modern militaries are shrinking in size, and need technology to help bridge the gap. AI systems can help them search enormous quantities of intelligence data to try and find the enemy.
According to posts on the Israeli military's website, the Gospel was developed by Israel's signals intelligence branch, known as Unit 8200. The system is relatively new — one of the earliest mentions was a top innovation award that it won in 2020.
The Gospel is actually one of several AI programs being used by Israeli intelligence, according to Tal Mimran, a lecturer at Hebrew University in Jerusalem who has worked for the Israeli government on targeting during previous military operations. Other AI systems aggregate vast quantities of intelligence data and classify it. The final system is the Gospel, which makes a targeting recommendation to a human analyst. Those targets could be anything from individual fighters, to equipment like rocket launchers, or facilities such as Hamas command posts.
"Basically Gospel imitates what a group of intelligence officers used to do in the past," he says.
But the Gospel is much more efficient. He says a group of 20 officers might produce 50-100 targets in 300 days. By comparison, Mimran says he thinks the Gospel and its associated AI systems can suggest around 200 targets "within 10-12 days" — a rate that's at least 50 times faster.
