Under attack from the militant Houthi group in neighboring Yemen, Saudi Arabia has asked numerous allies for help.
asserted
Arabia → neighbor → help
That includes the United States, even though media report that US President Donald Trump refused when Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman asked him to take direct military action against the Houthis.
However the US is providing Saudi Arabia with intelligence, which includes a targeting tool that uses artificial intelligence, or AI.
asserted
that → include → intelligence
A September report by US broadcaster CNN, quoting several unnamed American officials, said that between 100 and 200 US soldiers were in Saudi Arabia as part of new joint force command to facilitate this.
asserted
soldiers → quote → this
The US personnel were helping the Saudis "use a targeting tool that allows military officers to see in real-time what is happening on the battlefield," CNN reported.
asserted
CNN → help → battlefield
Officials said the system in Saudi Arabia was similar to that known as the Maven Smart System, or MSS for short, which the US military has also used as it sought targets in Iran, Iraq and Syria.
asserted
it → say → Iran
MSS came out of what's known as Project Maven, the US's flagship artificial intelligence program for the military, first launched in 2017.
asserted
what → come → 2017
MSS itself is an AI-enabled digital platform that "aggregates, organizes and visualizes vast streams of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data," analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington explained in a June text.
asserted
analysts → enable → text
The software system identifies patterns in data coming from, for example, live satellite feeds or drone cameras and then labels potential targets such as possible rocket launchers, tanks or suspicious vehicle convoys.
asserted
system → identify → launchers
human military analysts would have had to look at a wide array of different sources to try to find those, the CSIS researchers wrote.
asserted
researchers → have → those
But MSS now brings hundreds of sources together, analyses them all, then flags possible targets.
asserted
MSS → bring → targets
It also calculates the best method of hitting the target.
asserted
It → calculate → target
Tech commentator Bilawal Sidhu, a former Google product manager, has described the MSS set up as like a "Google Earth for war."
Using the MSS dramatically speeds up what is known as "the kill chain" — that is, the time it takes to detect a target, decide if it's dangerous and then order a strike.
When the US military used MSS while attacking Iran in late February, the AI-powered system facilitated hits on more than 1,000 targets within the first 24 hours of the war.
asserted
system → describe → war
Previously American soldiers were hitting about 100 targets a day.
asserted
soldiers → hit → targets
Up until recently, the long-simmering civil war in Yemen had been comparatively calm following an informal ceasefire negotiated in 2022.
asserted
war → simmer → 2022
The Houthi rebel group has held large parts of northern and western Yemen since 2015.
asserted
group → hold → 2015
Yemen's internationally recognized government and other groups held territory across the south and east.
asserted
government → recognize → south
That latter is supported by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
asserted
latter → support → Arabia
The Houthi's latest military campaign, which began in September, has seen the group take further control of Yemen's coast.
asserted
group → begin → coast
They also ramped up attacks against Saudi Arabia again, hitting the country's main airport and oil facilities.
asserted
They → ramp → airport
So far, though, military campaigns against the Houthi group by Saudi Arabia, the United States and others have all failed to significantly weaken the group.
asserted
campaigns → fail → group
This is partially because the Houthis take a "zero-sum approach," Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow focused on Yemen at UK think tank Chatham House, told DW recently.
asserted
Muslimi → take → DW
The group's founding father argued that contemporary Muslim societies were too "soft," and that poverty and hardship are a divine test, al-Muslimi said.
asserted
Muslimi → found → ?
"They don't care if the Israelis bomb the airport or the US bombs a hospital," she said.
asserted
she → care → hospital
"It actually serves them very well because their ideology is all about martyrdom and sacrifice."
asserted
ideology → serve → martyrdom
There are certain technical issues users have noted with the MSS in the past that could also prove problematic in Yemen.
uncertain
that → be → Yemen
The Houthis tend to be highly mobile, using truck-mounted ballistic missiles and small drone swarms as they operate from hills and canyons in rugged countryside.
asserted
they → tend → countryside
It's possible that fighters might be long gone before they can be attacked even with the help of AI-assisted targeting.
uncertain
they → go → targeting
Though MSS is known to work best in relatively unpopulated areas, factors such as changes in desert terrain, dust storms, high wind, snowfall and dense foliage — and even deliberately planted decoys — can reduce its success rate.
asserted
factors → know → rate
A human is always supposed to verify the target that the AI-assisted tool has identified and decide how to react.
asserted
tool → suppose → that
But it doesn't always work that way.
asserted
it → work → ?
For example, among the sites MSS targeted in Iran on the first day of the war was a school.
asserted
school → target → war
An American missile killed almost 200 people at a primary school in southern Iran, most of them children aged between seven and 12.
asserted
most → kill → seven
Could AI defeat the Houthis?
uncertain
AI → defeat → Houthis
In its military campaign in Gaza, Israel — arguably the Middle Eastern country with the most advanced military-use AI — has also used AI-assisted targeting.
asserted
Israel → use → targeting
An Israeli system known as the Gospel, or Habsora, is the closest to MSS in the way it works.
asserted
it → know → way
But, as has been documented elsewhere, including by Israeli and British journalists and in the recent documentary Naza, the use of such AI targeting tools have also been highly problematic because of the numbers of civilian casualties that can result.
asserted
that → document → casualties
"On the one hand [in Gaza], AI has enhanced commanders' situational awareness, lessened the human costs of tunnel mapping, improved the speed of military strikes, and boosted the survivability of troops," analysts Frederic Wehrey and Andrew Bonney wrote for War on the Rocks, a specialist media outlet.
asserted
Wehrey → enhance → Rocks
"Yet the benefits afforded by such functions have been overshadowed by mounting civilian deaths reportedly resulting from this technology's safeguards being loosened or eliminated.
uncertain
safeguards → afford → deaths
"
All of which is why Antony Loewenstein, an independent journalist based in Australia who has researched the impact of Israel's AI-assisted technology, doesn't believe similar technology will lead to the defeat of the Houthi group.
asserted
technology → base → group
"I don't think there's much evidence at all that using an AI tool is going to make much difference on the ground, except for causing huge amounts of civilian casualties," Loewenstein, who authored the book, "The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports The Technology of Occupation Around the World," told DW.
asserted
Israel → think → DW
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
