Israel is devising a national plan to tackle the benefits and dangers posed by artificial intelligence, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Wednesday.“For several months now, I have been formulating a national plan,” Netanyahu told the cabinet at its weekly meeting.“Soon I will appoint a project manager on the subject and I will also submit the national plan to the government and the public.“Artificial intelligence is an area that is much stronger than cyber, immeasurably stronger than cyber, and we have set the goal of turning the State of Israel into the No. 3 country in the world in this field, a very ambitious goal,” Netanyahu said.
Making Israel third in the world for AI
The prime minister spoke out after his return from the United States, where he met in San Jose with controversial billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and X, before continuing to New York and addressing the UN General Assembly and meeting with world leaders, including US President Joe Biden.He and Musk discussed artificial intelligence during a public livestream and then held a panel discussion with experts. Netanyahu has sought to put Israel at the forefront of the revolutionary technology.
Netanyahu also spoke with them about forming Israel’s national AI strategy. “Here I use the word national ‘strategy’, because the State of Israel needs to act according to it,” he added.The prime minister also spoke about AI when he addressed the UN General Assembly. AI is already impacting humanity at a magnitude that “can hardly be described,” Netanyahu said.“We must maximize the good and control – as much as possible – the negative consequences. We do not have a choice but to position Israel as a world leader in this field, just as we did in cyber. There are good and bad aspects in cyber as well, and we are working in both directions.”