It is above a checkpoint in the Palestinian city of Hebron that the Israeli army has installed a new crowd dispersal system.
Capable of firing stun grenades, tear gas, and Flash-Ball-like bullets, the turret features an AI designed according to the doctrine ” One Shot-One Hit “.
” A transition from human control to technological control »
The system is designed by Smart Shooter, an Israeli defense company that works on autonomous and semi-autonomous weapons projects. The company was noted for having designed an accessory to be added to assault rifles, assisted by an AI. Helping the soldier to reach his target, or even to overcome a possible incapacity or refusal to fire, this device would above all aim to limit collateral accidents. The turret installed in Hebron, still in the test phase, would have similar characteristics.
Issa Amro, a human rights activist from Hebron, explains:
” This system was placed in the center of a very populated area, hundreds of people pass by. Any failure of this technology could impact many individuals. I see this as part of a transition from human control to technological control. The Palestinian population has become an object of experimentation and training for Israel’s high-tech military industry. »
Israel, pioneer of automated systems for military purposes
Hebron was one of the first cities to use a system that allows Israeli authorities to identify a person even before they have passed through a checkpoint. Called Blue Wolf, the device contains the population’s personal information: identity, age, sex, address, license plate numbers, social ties, professional status in Israel, as well as the soldiers’ negative impressions of the behavior of a person when they meet her.
Israel has demonstrated its expertise in the field of autonomous weapons, with, among other things, its “Iron Dome” capable of foiling missile fire at any time. At the same time, the country has been using drones and remote-controlled turrets against civilians since 2018, sometimes lethally. Between systems capable of identifying any individual on the fly and remote-controlled weapons, the events in Hebron reveal that it would only be a misstep to cross to reach a new red line. Especially since to date, the UN has not put in place legislation establishing the primacy of human control over artificial intelligence in the use of lethal autonomous weapons.
Source : Vice
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