US warplanes strike Iranian-backed militias that wounded four American troops
USA TodayJAN 25 2024
Report: AI Used by US Forces to Help Identify Hostile Targets in the Middle East
Image copyright: Wikimedia Commons
The Facts
The US military has confirmed its usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to identify enemy targets in recent airstrikes in the Middle East.
The admission came from Schuyler Moore, the chief technology officer for US Central Command, who said that AI technology, particularly computer vision algorithms, have been key to the implementation of over 85 recent US air strikes.
Moore claimed the strikes in question were conducted by US bombers and fighter aircraft against seven facilities in Iraq and Syria on Feb. 2. The Biden administration has confirmed that the strikes targeted rockets, missiles, drone storage facilities, operation centers, and other targets in retaliation for the Jan. 28 attack against a base in Jordan that killed 3 US servicemen. The US has blamed the Jan. 28 attack on Iranian-backed militias.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
Military usage of AI technology is still very new and it has a huge capacity for abuse that could result in unintended crisis escalation and civilian casualties. Applications of this technology in military contexts are still largely untested and unregulated, with the threat of data manipulation like deep fakes posing potentially catastrophic threats.
Pro-establishment narrative
While the military using AI to find enemy targets for air strikes may sound scary, the reality is that humans are involved in every step of the process. At no point are the algorithms allowed to run wild without supervision, and human operators are constantly working to ensure that the technology is used safely and responsibly. While these algorithms are being used to find targets, humans are still the ones verifying the targets and deploying the weapons.
Metaculus Prediction
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Establishment split
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