The alibi of AI: algorithmic models of automated killing

Downey, Anthony (2025) The alibi of AI: algorithmic models of automated killing. Digital War, 6 (1). ISSN 2662-1975

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Abstract

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Automated Target Recognition (ATR) optimises martial prophecies of perpetual threat while simultaneously exonerating the politically inclined prosecution of “forever” wars. The affordances of AI in data-centric warfare are, as a result, not only in line with military demands but also increasingly consistent with government mandates and the zero-sum game of national security. Deployed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza since October 2023 (and in service there since at least 2021), this article will propose that the use of AI in ATR systems such as The Gospel ( Habsora ) and Lavender demonstrates these invariably fatal techno- and thanato-political alignments. Although regularly offered up to deny the fact that automated prototypes of killing are a prevailing reality in contemporary wars, I will observe how the safeguards nominally associated with the so-called human-in-the-loop (HITL) defence are effectively nothing more than a convenient fallacy. A stark reality has therefore emerged in modern warfare: through the use of ATR, and Automated Weapons Systems (AWS) more broadly, AI is reliably providing an alibi for the prosecution of wholesale methods of killing without, in turn, provoking much by way of substantive political censure or legal accountability.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.1057/s42984-025-00105-7
Dates:	Date Event 16 June 2025 Accepted 16 June 2025 Published Online
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Artificial intelligence (AI), Automated target recognition (ATR), Autonomous weapons systems (AWS), Israel-Hamas war, The gospel (Habsora), Human-in-the-loop systems (HITL), Algorithms, “threshold values”
Subjects:	CAH25 - design, and creative and performing arts > CAH25-01 - creative arts and design > CAH25-01-02 - art
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts, Design and Media > College of Art and Design
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	25 Jun 2025 14:49
Last Modified:	25 Jun 2025 14:49
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16445

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