As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to expand, so too are concerns that AI will do more than subjugate minds to machines, but also potentially lead to the extinction of the human race at the hands of robots.
An unimaginable nightmare facing us in the future would be armies facing off against robotic soldiers unaffected by fatigue, bullets or emotions during battle.
This idea is gaining increasing acceptance among the Israeli occupation authorities, currently reflecting their future orientations towards managing and planning new war tactics.
Removing the human element from wars
“Artificial intelligence is not just a new invention, it is a force that completely changes the rules of the game,” the director-general of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Eyal Zamir, said expressing the plan for military integration between modern technologies and humans, during a speech he delivered at the Defense Technology Summit at Tel Aviv University.
He pointed out that in the next 10 or 15 years, AI robots will dominate the securing and protection of land, sea, and air, and launch attacks against aggressors – something Zamir considers a necessity for Israel to compensate for the shortage of human cadres in the army after their depletion in the long war on Gaza, followed by Lebanon and Syria.
Israel’s losses after a year in Gaza
As Israel’s occupation forces commemorate the first anniversary of the attacks launched by the Hamas movement on October 7, 2023, it published data from government sources detailing the extent of its achievements in exchange for its numerous material and human losses, which include:
- 726 Israeli soldiers killed.
- 4,576 soldiers injured in battles.
- 56 soldiers killed in accidents during operations.
- 300,000 reserve soldiers mobilized since the start of the war.
- Approximately 10,000 soldiers left in psychological rehabilitation centers to recover from the trauma of war.
Using AI in defense
The inventor of the Iron Dome missile defense system, Daniel Gold, revealed how the AI-supported “Arrow III” air defense system is being utilized to protect Israel’s national security.
This was demonstrated by its first-time test in intercepting a missile launched from Yemen at a distance of over 1,500 kilometers, according to Israel News.
Gold stated that the Ministry of Defense has collaborated with dozens of technology startups to improve performance during wartime and manufacture combat-ready robots, a field that remains mysterious and is still being explored globally.
A new generation of warfare
Last September, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted the world’s shift towards future technology wars and the development of artificial intelligence industries in the military field.
The head of planning and information technology at the Ministry of Defense, Nir Weingold, believes these trends are growing in the US, where AI is spreading, whether for intelligence, war robots, or air defense systems to track missiles.
He added that the general trend in Israel is to bring AI to the front lines and provide technological capabilities to the battlefield – replacing humans.
