"Genocidal Human-Machine Assemblage: Artificial Intelligence and the Mass Extermination of Civilians in Gaza" by Dr. Vasja Badalič

From the Research Network on Digital Authoritarianism

As part of "The Many Faces of Digital Authoritarianism" Lecture Series by the ECPR Research Network on Digital Authoritarianism:

"Genocidal Human-Machine Assemblage: Artificial Intelligence and the Mass Extermination of Civilians in Gaza"

by Dr. Vasja Badalič (Institute of Criminology, Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Date and time: 01 July 2025, Tuesday 16:00 - 17:30 CET
Moderator: Dr. Ülker Sözen (University of Passau & Leipzig University)

Link: https://ecpr-eu.zoom.us/j/86309076890?pwd=1fZiwHSKxUCxrqZnMTuaG6t8Kh4Bvm.1

Meeting ID: 86309076890

Password: 946788

For registration: https://ecpr.eu/Events/337 

Abstract
This paper discusses how the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the target selection process exacerbated genocidal violence in Gaza. The first objective is to examine how various AI-enabled systems, together with judgments made by Israeli soldiers, erased civilians from the battlefield by redefining them as military targets. The paper examines the shortcomings of AI technology (e.g., uncertainty in proxy-based target determinations, faulty training dataset, incorporated error rate) and human decisions (e.g., using “dumb” bombs, relying on too wide pinpointing of targets) that contributed to the erasure of civilians. The second objective is to show how the human-machine assemblage created the conditions for indiscriminate and disproportionate armed attacks that ignored the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.

Bio
Vasja Badalič is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, Slovenia. His primary fields of research are contemporary imperialism and migration. He has published many peer-reviewed articles in academic journals and monographs, including in Drones and Unmanned Aerial Systems (Springer, 2016), and Automating Crime Prevention, Surveillance, and Military Operations (Springer, 2021). He is the author of five books, including The War Against Civilians: Victims of the ‘War on Terror’ in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and Preventive Warfare: Hegemony, Power, and the Reconceptualization of War (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).