AI is the next national security frontier, but Israel may be losing its edge

Developing a national strategy for artificial intelligence, including its ethical aspects, is critical for Israel's future security, a study published last week by the Institute for National Security Studies argued. "Proper management of the field of artificial intelligence in Israel holds great potential for preserving and improving national security," wrote Dr. Liran Antebi, an INSS research fellow, in the Hebrew-language study, which was prepared with assistance from experts in the high-tech industry, the defense establishment, the government and academia. Titled "Artificial intelligence and Israeli national security," the study starts from the assumption that AI will eventually be of decisive importance worldwide in terms of both economics and security, especially if predictions that AI's capabilities will someday exceed human ones prove accurate. "Artificial intelligence will create a new industrial revolution of the greatest scope in history," Antebi wrote. And this will naturally widen the gaps between countries with high technological capabilities and those that are left behind. One example is autonomous weapons systems like robots and drones that are capable of searching for, identifying and attacking targets independently, with almost no human involvement.