The Aftermath Of An Israeli Airstrike In Rafah, Gaza Strip. The Idf’s ‘gospel’ System Has Reportedly Increased Selectable Targets From 50 Per Year To 100 Per Day. Credit: Anas Mohammed / Shutterstock.

Ethical and legal constraints will be the biggest challenge for the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in defence over the next five years, industry experts believe.

An ongoing survey by GlobalData has found that, when asked what the biggest challenge for AI in defence will be over the next five years, 47.1% of respondents point to ethical and legal constraints, while 34.6% say bias and ‘hallucination’ errors.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

The survey has received 208 responses to date across GlobalData outlets.

Israel's 'Gospel' AI airstrike system sparks backlash

Concerns over the ethicality and legality of AI use in conflict scenarios have been laid bare by the ongoing Middle East conflict.

“There are definitely huge ethical concerns especially if the AI is involved in making potentially lethal decisions in an actual conflict scenario,” says James Marques, defence analyst at GlobalData.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

The Gaza Strip has become one such military theatre. As the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) launch airstrikes on Rafah, a city on the Palestinian territory’s southwestern border with Egypt, the role AI has played in their “around the clock” bombing campaign becomes increasingly apparent.

The IDF has drastically increased the number of targets selectable for airstrikes through their ‘Gospel’ AI target-identification platform.

In an interview before the most recent Israel-Palestine conflict, former IDF chief Aviv Kochaviv said the Gospel has increased the number of targets the IDF can target in Gaza from 50 per year to 100 per day.

Questions over the data used by the Gospel to select targets – and how precise its airstrikes are in the context of reducing civilian harm – have gone unanswered.

Aside from these mounting ethical and legal concerns, survey respondents also expect bias and ‘hallucinations’ to delay AI’s implementation in defence.

Hallucinations, which occur when an AI-driven chatbot spouts misinformation as fact, are expected to decrease as AI accuracy increases.

This trend, however, is far from guaranteed, according to Marques.

“In general, I believe hallucinations will decrease, but it depends on the dataset AI systems are being trained on, and progress may not be so linearly positive,” Marques told Army Technology. “There is the possibility that introducing AIs to larger datasets and more complex topics may actually increase chances for hallucinations, but this is all early stages in the long run.”