As tech leaders warn about the threats of artificial intelligence, most conjure up images of AI agents running amok, such as hacking systems used to run our critical infrastructure, banks or even militaries.
asserted
most → warn → infrastructure
Yet one serious danger is mentioned less frequently – the threat posed by AI – empowered lethal weapons.
asserted
danger → mention → weapons
Fully autonomous versions of these weapons are colloquially known as killer robots.
asserted
versions → know → robots
Israel’s conduct in Gaza shows that, in an important respect, such AI weapon systems are already here.
asserted
systems → show → respect
An algorithm has been deciding who lives and who dies.
asserted
who → decide → ?
For more than a decade, governments have been meeting in Geneva to stop the development of autonomous AI weapons.
asserted
governments → meet → weapons
In early September, 128 governments met to approve a report that could serve as the foundation for a binding treaty.
uncertain
that → meet → treaty
But a collection of lawyers sent by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin teamed up to water it down.
asserted
collection → send → it
Notably, they weakened a provision that requires humans to review military targets developed by AI before a strike.
asserted
that → weaken → strike
Fully autonomous weapons remain the focus; the use of AI to determine targets for conventional weapons is not.
asserted
use → remain → weapons
At risk is the longstanding quest to maintain a “human in the loop” – that is, meaningful or effective “human control” of AI-empowered weaponry.
asserted
that → maintain → weaponry
For many people, talk of killer robots conjures up images of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Terminator.
asserted
talk → conjure → Terminator
I have often thought about the problem in the context of the Tahrir Square uprising at the height of the Arab Spring that led to the ouster of the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
asserted
that → think → president
Mubarak’s fate was sealed when the Egyptian army made clear it would refuse to fire on Egyptian protesters.
asserted
it → seal → protesters
But killer robots would have had no such qualms.
asserted
robots → have → qualms
If Mubarak had been able to deploy them, he might have stayed in power.
uncertain
he → deploy → power
The negotiators in Geneva are not even addressing this problem.
asserted
negotiators → address → problem
The Trump-Putin lawyers made sure that the agreed report referred only to war, not repression.
asserted
report → make → war
Today, amid the drone warfare in eastern Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian troops are experimenting with fully autonomous weapons to overcome jamming of the signals used to control drones.
asserted
troops → experiment → drones
We can expect these nascent deployments to expand.
asserted
deployments → expect → ?
If we look at targeting decisions more expansively, AI has already taken over.
asserted
AI → look → decisions
In Gaza, the Israeli military is using AI to target Palestinians.
asserted
military → use → Palestinians
Israel has long monitored phone communications in that territory.
asserted
Israel → monitor → territory
After the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, Israel used an AI system called “Lavender” to uncover patterns that it equated with the phone of a Hamas operative.
asserted
it → use → operative
People whose phones AI determined met these criteria could be killed.
uncertain
AI → determine → criteria
Because it was easier to target suspects at home, a separate automated system called “Where’s Daddy?” tracked them there, meaning that their families were often killed too.
asserted
families → target → them
There was no pretense that Hamas was using its operatives’ homes for military purposes.
asserted
Hamas → be → purposes
It was simply easier for the AI system to find suspected Hamas fighters where they slept.
asserted
they → find → fighters
Theoretically, a human remained in the loop because an AI-picked target was routed through intelligence officers who approved it and sent it to others who launched the attack.
asserted
who → remain → attack
But in Israel’s killing spree that followed the Hamas attack, the intense demand for targets took precedence over such review.
asserted
demand → follow → review
Israeli intelligence officers who received the AI selections routinely passed them to the attackers without second guessing.
asserted
who → receive → attackers
As one officer described: “I would invest 20 seconds for each target at this stage, and do dozens of them every day.
asserted
I → describe → them
I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval.
asserted
I → have → approval
It saved a lot of time.”
asserted
It → save → time
From computer to killing, the human judgment exercised was perfunctory – a “rubber stamp”.
asserted
judgment → exercise → killing
In essence, an algorithm played God.
asserted
algorithm → play → God
One Israeli officer suggested the practice might be justified because AI makes better decisions than humans do.
uncertain
humans → suggest → decisions
It is dispassionate, while people’s judgment can be clouded, such as by the animosity toward all Palestinians that some Israelis felt after the Hamas attack.
asserted
Israelis → cloud → attack
As one Israeli soldier explained: “I have much more trust in a statistical mechanism than a soldier who lost a friend two days ago.
asserted
who → explain → friend
Everyone there, including me, lost people on October 7.
asserted
Everyone → include → October
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
