Last month, leaders from 10 countries and the European Union met to discuss emerging AI technology. The Summit, co-hosted by the United Kingdom and South Korea, is the first landmark meeting following the Bletchley Declaration, the international agreement calling for accountability and international cooperation to ensure AI safety. During the Seoul AI Summit, participants committed to building a network of safety institutes to monitor AI development. The summit focused on the safe use of AI, but attendees did not address the elephant in the room: Discussion of AI safety must include plans for regulating AI’s military applications. After all, Israel’s Lavender AI program is already demonstrating the catastrophic consequences of low-regulation AI during wartime.
Since the Gaza offensive began, Israel has leveraged AI in its military campaign, blurring the line between human and machine decision-makers. If global leaders do not take meaningful steps toward regulating military-specific AI, their overall efforts for AI safety will be ineffective. Examining Israel’s use of AI in war provides useful insight for the US and Bletctchley signatories as they discuss guardrails on the future of AI.
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