The U.S. is studying a report that Israel used artificial intelligence to identify bombing targets in Gaza

The United States is investigating media reports that the Israeli military has been using artificial intelligence to help identify bombing targets in Gaza, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told CNN on Thursday.

Kirby said in an interview with CNN that the United States has not verified the media reports published in +972 magazine and Local Call on Wednesday. It cited Israeli intelligence officials involved in the reported Lavender program.

Media reports say the Israeli military has used artificial intelligence systems with little oversight to label tens of thousands of Gazans as assassination suspects.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) denies that artificial intelligence is used to identify suspected extremists and targets.

“The IDF does not use artificial intelligence systems to identify terrorists or attempt to predict whether a person is a terrorist. Information systems are simply tools for analysts in the target identification process,” the IDF said in a statement.

The IDF directive requires analysts to conduct independent inspections to verify whether the identified targets comply with relevant definitions of international law and Israeli norms, the statement added.

In an interview with CNN, Kirby was also asked about reports that Israel’s security cabinet had approved opening the Erez crossing into Gaza to allow more humanitarian aid in.

Kirby said the opening of the crossing would be “welcome news” and “certainly consistent” with what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Joe Biden in a phone call on Thursday.

The White House said Biden threatened in the phone call to support Israel’s offensive in Gaza if Israel took specific steps to protect aid workers and civilians.

According to Israeli statistics, the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas launched an attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people.

Israel’s subsequent military assault on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip has killed more than 32,000 people and displaced nearly all of its 2.3 million people, according to the local health ministry, creating a hunger crisis and triggering accusations of genocide, which Israel denies. .