Israel: AI Superpower and Autonomous Warfare Advancement Goals

The director-general of Israel’s Defence Ministry stated that Israel intends to leverage its technological capabilities to achieve the status of an artificial intelligence “superpower”.

_{^{(Representational Image/Photo: 123RF)}}

The Defence Ministry director-general of Israel revealed on Monday that the country plans to utilize its technological expertise to establish itself as an artificial intelligence “superpower.”

Anticipating progress in autonomous warfare and more efficient combat decision-making, retired army general Eyal Zamir outlined key initiatives such as the creation of a dedicated military robotics organization within the ministry and a significantly increased budget for research and development in the field of AI this year.

Speaking at the Herzliya Conference, an international security forum, Eyal Zamir, the Defence Ministry director-general of Israel, highlighted the potential of AI as the next revolution in warfare.

He mentioned that civilian AI industries are focusing on deep-learning domains such as GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) and AGI (Artificial General Intelligence), which could eventually find military applications.

Zamir identified areas of interest, including swarm-based platforms, autonomous combat systems, advanced data fusion, and AI-assisted fast decision-making on an unprecedented scale. The ministry chose not to disclose specific figures regarding AI funding.

The Israeli military has revealed the deployment of some autonomous systems. In 2021, it announced the use of robot surveillance jeeps for patrolling the Gaza Strip border.

Recently, Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-owned company, unveiled an autonomous intelligence-gathering submarine that has already conducted “thousands of hours” of operations.

Eyal Zamir attributed Israel’s success in cyber warfare, including alleged attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, to a strategic understanding of defense, economic, national, and international dimensions. He emphasized the mission to establish Israel as an AI superpower, aiming to lead a select group of world powers in this field.

About Post Author

Toshika Chauhan