For the next flare-up, Colonel Eli Birenbaum, chief of the military's operational data and applications unit, has plans to use artificial intelligence aggregation to predict the salvoes. Currently, he said, there are "many hundreds" of personnel dealing broadly with AI-related projects, and who constitute 20% of military technologists. He has government backing, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu increasing the defence budget and pledging to make Israel an AI "powerhouse". During their mandatory service - two years for women, 32 months for men - military technologists earn a monthly $335. For Israel, AI target-acquisition will not spell automated target-destruction, Birenbaum stressed.

---

Persons: Nir Elias RAMAT, Eli Birenbaum, Birenbaum, Benjamin Netanyahu, Dan Williams, Supantha Mukherjee, Nick Macfie Organizations: IDF, REUTERS, Reuters, Google, Thomson Locations: Ramat Gan, Israel, Gaza, Tel Aviv