Media: Israeli army develops ChatGPT-like AI for surveillance of Palestinians

The Israeli army is developing an artificial intelligence tool similar to ChatGPT, designed to process millions of Arabic conversations gathered through surveillance of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

The tool, a Large Language Model (LLM), is being created by Unit 8200, an elite cyber warfare division within Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate, Caliber.Az reports via foreign magazine. 

Unlike publicly available LLMs such as ChatGPT, which are trained on general internet data, the Israeli model is being trained using intelligence collected from the daily lives of Palestinians. 

Sources confirmed that the LLM is still under development, and while its specific uses remain unclear, it is designed to handle large volumes of surveillance data, providing the army with the ability to quickly answer questions about specific individuals. This capability could assist in identifying and arresting Palestinians under Israeli military control.

An intelligence source highlighted the potential of AI to enhance population control, explaining that it would allow for extensive surveillance over the Palestinian population. “When you hold so much data, you can direct it toward any purpose you choose,” the expert noted, suggesting the tool could be used to track activists, monitor construction projects, or assert broader control over the population. 

The LLM has reportedly been trained on a staggering 100 billion words of Arabic, sourced from Israeli surveillance activities. Critics, including human rights advocates, have raised alarms about the ethical implications of using personal data collected from individuals who are not suspected of any crimes. Zach Campbell from Human Rights Watch and Nadim Nashif from 7amleh, a Palestinian digital rights organization, warned that Palestinians are being treated as subjects in an experiment that could be used to solidify Israel’s military occupation and apartheid policies. 

The development of this tool was publicly acknowledged by Israeli intelligence officer Chaked Roger Joseph Sayedoff, who explained that the program was designed to create an extensive dataset of Arabic language information. Initially, the army explored using existing LLMs, such as ChatGPT, but encountered challenges due to the tool's inability to process spoken Arabic dialects. This led to the decision to develop their own system tailored to their needs. The project gained significant traction following the escalation of the Gaza conflict in October 2023, when experts from private tech firms were enlisted to assist with its development. 

These industry experts, including those from AI21 Labs, revealed that the LLM will provide the Israeli army with the ability to quickly analyze surveillance data, create “suspect” lists, and monitor individuals in real time, further enhancing Israel’s intelligence capabilities in the occupied territories.

By Naila Huseynova