It’s not hypothetical: the dangers of AI are already here- Israel and the US have used AI to kill in Gaza and Iran, while law enforcement uses it in surveillance and arrests. The future is here

‘The strike that caused what is almost certainly the worst incident of civilian casualties in the war was, most likely, the result of a “targeting mistake” that relied on faulty data.’ Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Granate Kim and Mohamed Hussein in The Guardian

Fri 25 Sep 2026 

In recent weeks, concerns about AI have forged unlikely alliances in the tech and policy worlds. Tech moguls such as Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Demis Hassabis joined Dario Amodei, Satya Nadella and Bill Gates in sounding the alarm about the dangers of AI and called for a slowdown of the technology’s development despite years of racing for dominance. The senator Bernie Sanders teamed up with Steve Bannon to urge Congress to regulate AI, which has become one of the very few issues to unite Americans across the political spectrum.

The latest moves were sparked in part by the AI researcher Jacob Coxon’s warnings on Twitter/X that AI companies are “gambling with our lives” and believe that the technology “could kill us all by the end of the decade”.

The reality is, we don’t have to wait to see how AI will bring about unprecedented death and destruction, because we’ve already witnessed its unleashing.

Bill Gates’s nearly 6,000-word essay in late August warning about AI and its potential harms to humanity doesn’t come as a surprise. One of us has been a Microsoft employee for nearly a decade, witnessing all the dangers unfold in real time. Together, we’ve spent the past two years organizing with other Microsoft employees and activists to uncover the company’s role in the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. We have collectively called on Microsoft to cut ties with the Israeli military.

But it’s not just Microsoft that is involved in AI-driven destruction.

Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza was a testing ground for the use of AI in warfare and the results were deeply disturbing. Israel’s military used AI to identify people to kill, with 12,000 targets generated and bombed in the first month alone. This was done with little to no meaningful human oversight, as documented in an investigation by Oscar-winning Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, whose latest film NAZA includes chilling testimonials by the soldiers involved.

Earlier this year in Iran, the US military launched an AI-involved airstrike that hit Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran, killing 156 children, teachers and other civilians. The strike that caused what is almost certainly the worst incident of civilian casualties in the war was, most likely, the result of a “targeting mistake” that relied on faulty data.

The horrors wrought by AI aren’t limited to people overseas – they’re already being felt by vulnerable communities in the US The Department of Homeland Security is using AI tools – including Microsoft’s Azure – to monitor, arrest and deport immigrants at a massive scale. Law enforcement agencies nationwide are deploying facial recognition technology despite evidence of algorithmic bias that has led to the wrongful arrest and incarceration of Latino and Black Americans..READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/25/ai-israel-gaza-iran-police-surveillance

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AI (artificial intelligence)  

CSM- In Israel’s democracy battle, an added front: Politicized police "a mass protest movement – unprecedented in size and duration in Israel’s history – was mobilized to counter what democracy activists portrayed as a naked power grab. Demonstrations packed streets around the country for about 40 weeks straight, until the devastating Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas assault thrust the country into war and brought the overhaul efforts to a halt."

• 
  By Dina Kraft Special correspondent

  @dinakraft

Jan. 10, 2025, 9:19 a.m. ET | TEL AVIV, Israel

Blocking Arab citizens’ protests against the war in Gaza. Making a mid-level officer who ordered aggressive tactics against anti-government demonstrators the head of Israel’s national police force. Another officer’s refusal to arrest violent Jewish settlers in the hopes of currying favor with his boss.

This is just a partial list of how the Israeli police force has been politicized under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The process has proceeded relentlessly since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power two years ago and gave Mr. Ben-Gvir, an extremist settler provocateur with his own long rap sheet, the highest law enforcement job in the country... READ MORE

Why We [CSM] Wrote This

A story focused on

Justice

How central is an independent police force to democracy? In Israel, the politicization of the national police is seen as part of the hard-line government’s revived judicial overhaul program, which sparked a mass pro-democracy protest movement.

"... For Palestinian citizens of Israel, the heavy-handed police stifling of dissent is nothing new. But the rise in systemic targeting of the community, especially when it comes to freedom of speech and the right to protest under Mr. Ben-Gvir and more so since the war began, has been marked.

Some 200 Palestinian citizens and East Jerusalem residents are facing charges for exercising their rights of freedom of expression, according to Adalah, a Palestinian-run legal center based in Haifa..."   READ MORE  https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2025/0110/israel-netanyahu-ben-gvir-police-democracy

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"Adalah" is an Arabic word that means JUSTICE    https://www.adalah.org/en 

Adalah’s mission is to promote human rights in Israel in general and the rights of the Palestinian minority, citizens of Israel, in particular (around 1.5 million people, or 20% of the population). This work also includes promoting and defending the human rights of all individuals subject to the jurisdiction of the State of Israel (e.g. Palestinian residents of the OPT). Adalah is the first Palestinian Arab-run legal center in Israel, and the sole Palestinian organization that works before Israeli courts to protect the human rights of Palestinians in Israel and in the OPT.  https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/7189

CSM Where kindness meets crisis: This police unit put away its riot gear. Now it walks and talks with protesters.

Dialogue unit officers talk with people gathered at a rally in support of the Palestinian cause, in Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 24, 2024. Alfredo Sosa/Staff

"At a pro-Palestinian street protest in Columbus, Ohio, last fall, demonstrators march to the rhythm of liberation chants, punctuated by occasional horns from passing cars. “Free, free Palestine,” they cry, waving flags and banners.

But mingling among the demonstrators are four uniformed police officers wearing powder-blue police vests emblazoned with “Columbus Police Dialogue.” One of them is Sgt. Steve Dyer, the team leader of a special unit that talks with protesters rather than confronting them with riot gear.

“Their goal is to have their voices heard,” Sergeant Dyer says. “We will walk and work with those who are there to peacefully protest.” By walking with and talking to protesters, police hope to build legitimacy – a bridge of communication that could deescalate potential conflicts.... "  READ MORE   https://www.csmonitor.com/Daily/2025/20250113?cmpid=ema:bundle:20250113:1191533:toc&sfmc_sub=272001716#1191533

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CSM: Ken Makin Commentary on Columbia: History, protests, and humanity- After arrests at Columbia University and other schools, our commentator considers the legacy of civil disobedience. How and why does society’s lens on protests change over time?

Students protest in support of Palestinians near a closed entrance of Columbia University, in New York City, April 23, 2024. Caitlin Ochs/Reuters  

There was a political theorist who famously said there are decades when nothing happens, and weeks when decades happen. As someone who writes about history a good bit, I think we should take those decades when “nothing happens” to remember flashpoints.

When I saw students at Columbia University engaging in a pro-Palestinian protest last week, I thought about South Carolina State University, about Kent State, about Jackson State, and about Southern University. When more than 100 students were arrested in New York City after said protest, my concerns went to the natural escalation that occurs when the people clash with the police, when people push back against war.

I understand that pushback, because I never met my uncle, my dad’s older brother. A few days after his 20th birthday, he was killed in Vietnam. The presidential election year of 1968 was a harrowing one that hit close to home for my dad, who would later decide to attend South Carolina State. Only three months before my uncle died, a student protest ended in tragedy during the events that are now known as the Orangeburg Massacre. Students from SC State and Claflin University sought to desegregate a local bowling alley, which led to an eventual clash with police. It was the first instance of police killing protesters at an American university....  

READ MORE https://www.csmonitor.com/Daily/2024/20240424/Commentary-on-Columbia-History-protests-and-humanity?cmpid=shared-twitter

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