Israel aims to use its "technological prowess" to become a "superpower" in artificial intelligence, the director general of Israel's Defense Ministry said on Monday, predicting progress in autonomous warfare and smooth decision-making in battle.
Retired General Eyal Zamir said the steps to capitalize on rapid developments in artificial intelligence include the formation of a dedicated organization for military robotics at the ministry, and the allocation of a record large budget for related research and development work this year.
At the Herzliya Conference, an annual international security forum, Zamir said, "There are those who believe that artificial intelligence is the next revolution in changing the face of war on the battlefield."
He pointed to GPT (pre-trained generative transformers) and AGI (general artificial intelligence) as areas of deep learning addressed by civilian AI industries that may eventually have military applications.
These areas could include "the ability of platforms to attack in squadrons, or the ability of combat systems that operate autonomously to integrate data and assist in quick decision-making, on a larger scale that we have never seen," the same source added.
Self-driving systems
Israel's Defense Ministry declined to provide statistics on AI funding, while the Israeli army unveiled some self-driving systems that have already been deployed.
In 2021, the military said robotic surveillance vehicles would help patrol the Gaza border.
Israel's state-owned Aerospace Industries Company this month unveiled an autonomous intelligence-gathering submarine and said it had already completed operations lasting "thousands of hours."
Zamir credited Israel's achievements in cyberwarfare — widely believed to have been used against Iran's nuclear facilities — to "a correct and timely understanding of the defense, economic, national and international dimensions."
"Our mission is to transform the State of Israel into an artificial intelligence superpower to become at the forefront of a very limited number of global powers present in this club," he said.