US uses AI to target locations for airstrikes in Middle East

The United States has increased its use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology for the identification of locations to carry out its airstrikes in the Middle East, according to a new report by Bloomberg.

In the latest round of airstrikes, coalition forces led by the US targeted eight locations, which included underground weapons storage facilities, missile storage facilities, one-way attacks on unmanned aerial systems, air defence systems, radars, and a helicopter, to disrupt the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, according to the Pentagon.

The US is employing complex AI and machine learning to fire precise targets on enemy organisations as it has increased its retaliation attacks against terrorist organisations in the area.

Chief Technology Officer for US Central Command (CENTCOM), Schuyler Moore, said that the military is using computer vision algorithms to identify enemy targets in the Middle East.

According to Steven Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who was discussing its use during the strikes, "AI systems can aggregate bulk information and identify targets and locations in ways that can be more efficient than relying on traditional techniques."

There is no denying that AI technology has increased military targeting accuracy, but there are still concerns about how well it prevents civilian fatalities. Concerns regarding these technologies' potential effects on innocent bystanders during conflicts continue to exist in the absence of more accountability and transparency in their deployment.