Hamas is a militant group but is also the governing entity of Gaza. They are treated the same through Western media with no distinction between civilians or militants. It would be like labeling American firefighters as the same as the American pilots that bombed the girls school in Iran.
And it’s even worse than just that. They specifically attack “Hamas members” in their homes. They don’t even hide the reasons why. They openly will say it is to “incentivize” others to not “be Hamas” by targeting their family.
As someone that has worked at Microsoft and heard from first hand the people that had access to these systems I can say that this is not at all a “failure of AI”. That is mostly an excuse for what is actually being done.
The AI portions of these systems are primarily about dealing with large amounts of data collection to form a narrative an reasoning that would otherwise have no basis in reality. Gaza, even before the Palestinian Genocide, had the most surveillance on the planet. The AI is primarily used to disconnect humans from the doubt in the decisions they are making. The AI doesn’t have to function for accuracy when it’s goal is not accuracy. The goal is to ensure those carrying out the strikes believe in its accuracy. That their is enough for them to believe they are “making the best hard decision”. It is the only way to ensure a state like Israel maintains it genocidal goals.
The comparison of this would be the industrialization of murder that was the Holocaust. The Nazis did not change to gas chambers as a means of “efficiency”. The mass slaughter of innocent people was creating doubt and unrest in those carrying out the slaughter. You can believe the worst white supremacist hate and enjoy all the propaganda that justifies your actions. But, at a certain point, that is no longer enough. The direct participantion in mass suffering will break anyone. Even if it’s not in understanding their actions as wrong. But making them incapable of being functional enough to continue acting as a tool for mass murder.
The Israeli soldier that committed suicide after describing their bulldozing over dead bodies for months. That type of thing. But, if that direct level of participation is abstracted by “this very smart system says these deaths are justified” and the soldier is only pressing a button on an Xbox controller. Well, you’ve manufactured a society that is capable of a genocide. And proudly so.
This type of maintenance on the Israeli population itself is something that is rarely talked about. But, I think it can be seen as a “Israelis are actually victims”. So, I want to be clear that’s not what I’m trying to say. But, I am interested in understanding how a society and a state can reach such a level of hubris, such unapologetic rejoice in their crimes; so we can stop it.
I don’t think it’s helpful to say “they are just evil”. It is true. The Nazis were fucking evil. The IDF are fucking evil. But, how does that occur and become sustainable? I think people stop and just attribute it to a flaw in some inherent human trait of a people. Which, ironically, is often the justification used by those commiting genocide themselves.
The only way to recover from and prevent these things is to understand the structures that maintain them in the first place. And, that, is what AI is primarily being used for in warfare and in genocide. It is a means of maintaining it. It’s why when Microsoft says it’s “cutoff Israel from xyz” they are doing this to save face in the public eye. To attempt to separate their image from the direct systems that press the button. But, are still maintaining the structures that allow, justify, and maintain the structures that allow that button to exist and keep the IDF soldier pressing it.
Sorry, rant. But I never imagined in my college years working on programming problems that I’d end up at a company so connected to and so at fault for carrying out the mass slaughter of innocents halfway around the world. It does something to you.
Hamas is a militant group but is also the governing entity of Gaza. They are treated the same through Western media with no distinction between civilians or militants. It would be like labeling American firefighters as the same as the American pilots that bombed the girls school in Iran.
And it’s even worse than just that. They specifically attack “Hamas members” in their homes. They don’t even hide the reasons why. They openly will say it is to “incentivize” others to not “be Hamas” by targeting their family.
As someone that has worked at Microsoft and heard from first hand the people that had access to these systems I can say that this is not at all a “failure of AI”. That is mostly an excuse for what is actually being done.
The AI portions of these systems are primarily about dealing with large amounts of data collection to form a narrative an reasoning that would otherwise have no basis in reality. Gaza, even before the Palestinian Genocide, had the most surveillance on the planet. The AI is primarily used to disconnect humans from the doubt in the decisions they are making. The AI doesn’t have to function for accuracy when it’s goal is not accuracy. The goal is to ensure those carrying out the strikes believe in its accuracy. That their is enough for them to believe they are “making the best hard decision”. It is the only way to ensure a state like Israel maintains it genocidal goals.
The comparison of this would be the industrialization of murder that was the Holocaust. The Nazis did not change to gas chambers as a means of “efficiency”. The mass slaughter of innocent people was creating doubt and unrest in those carrying out the slaughter. You can believe the worst white supremacist hate and enjoy all the propaganda that justifies your actions. But, at a certain point, that is no longer enough. The direct participantion in mass suffering will break anyone. Even if it’s not in understanding their actions as wrong. But making them incapable of being functional enough to continue acting as a tool for mass murder.
The Israeli soldier that committed suicide after describing their bulldozing over dead bodies for months. That type of thing. But, if that direct level of participation is abstracted by “this very smart system says these deaths are justified” and the soldier is only pressing a button on an Xbox controller. Well, you’ve manufactured a society that is capable of a genocide. And proudly so.
This type of maintenance on the Israeli population itself is something that is rarely talked about. But, I think it can be seen as a “Israelis are actually victims”. So, I want to be clear that’s not what I’m trying to say. But, I am interested in understanding how a society and a state can reach such a level of hubris, such unapologetic rejoice in their crimes; so we can stop it.
I don’t think it’s helpful to say “they are just evil”. It is true. The Nazis were fucking evil. The IDF are fucking evil. But, how does that occur and become sustainable? I think people stop and just attribute it to a flaw in some inherent human trait of a people. Which, ironically, is often the justification used by those commiting genocide themselves.
The only way to recover from and prevent these things is to understand the structures that maintain them in the first place. And, that, is what AI is primarily being used for in warfare and in genocide. It is a means of maintaining it. It’s why when Microsoft says it’s “cutoff Israel from xyz” they are doing this to save face in the public eye. To attempt to separate their image from the direct systems that press the button. But, are still maintaining the structures that allow, justify, and maintain the structures that allow that button to exist and keep the IDF soldier pressing it.
Sorry, rant. But I never imagined in my college years working on programming problems that I’d end up at a company so connected to and so at fault for carrying out the mass slaughter of innocents halfway around the world. It does something to you.