Israel and the United States signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence
Israel’s Head of the National AI Directorate, Brig. -Gen. (Res.) Erez Eskel and the US Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg signed the statement outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City. In addition to Eskel and Helberg, Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee were also in attendance as well as senior officials from companies such as Google and NVIDIA, businessmen and venture capitalists.
Speaking to Defense & Tech by The Jerusalem Post following the ceremony, Helberg said that it was exciting to see how “the most technologically advanced countries in the world” are joining Pax Silica. “I am proud to note that barely a month ago, we launched the Pax Silica declaration as a group of seven countries, since then we’ve now expanded it to nine countries. India has been announced to join next month.”
Israel joined the Pax Silica initiative in December, which unites nine leading nations in AI.
Other member nations in the United States-led coalition include the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Taiwan, Canada, the European Union, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will be guest contributors to the operation of the coalition, according to a US government fact sheet.
Critical supply chain problems
Helberg explained to D&T that the goal of Pax Silica is to solve a critical problem regarding America’s supply chains which is currently heavily dependent on China for critical minerals, semiconductor nodes and more.
“Regardless of how one feels about China, it is not good business to be reliant on a single point of failure, and everyone understands that and is now partnering to de-risk single points of failure in the supply chain” he said. “Now that we have this cohort of partners, we are going to start shifting our attention towards implementation. We want to focus on the arteries of supply chain with logistics. We want to focus on the muscle on industrial capacity and the fuel- energy and capital- that will ultimately be propellent for everything else.”
He explained that the initiative will be focusing on capabilities and scale.
“We want to move numbers in a way that is actually meaningful for our supply chain and American companies. We want capabilities and scale and if the partner that can deliver that are startups, then great, if it's not, it's not. We are going to focus on partners who can deliver,” he said, adding that “our goal is to secure our supply chains for our companies and America's security.”
Technological superiority
A statement by the United States State Department said that the partnership between the two allies will advance economic growth, create jobs and enhance security with technological superiority. The strategic framework signed Friday aims to “substantially” contribute to the economy and security of both countries.
“The United States and Israel intend to continue their deep, durable partnership through joint research, development, and investment in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), energy, advanced computing technologies, space, edge innovation, and semiconductors,” the statement said. “This partnership includes renewed focus on protection of sensitive technologies to facilitate a secure and trusted research environment.”
As part of Pax Silica, the key areas of partnership include AI, space, semiconductors, robotics, material sciences, new energy sources, and more.
The importance of American-Israeli relationship
FM Sa’ar spoke on the importance of the US-Israel relationship for both countries. “Today's statement is further proof of the undeniable fact: Just as the United States is indispensable for Israel, Israel is an indispensable asset for America and its National Security interests,” Sa’ar said, adding that Israel wants to further invest in the initiative. “Our AI partnership-through Israel’s tech community and cutting-edge start-ups strengthens America’s position as the global leader in emerging technologies and supply chains. When America leads the world technologically, the world is a more secure place.”
Huckabee also discussed the importance and unique nature of the two countries’ relationship. “I often say that America has many friends and allies, but we have only one true partner in Israel,” Huckabee said. “Israel and the United States and Israel intend to continue their deep, durable partnership through joint research, development, investment, and commercialization across a broad range of strategic sectors.”
According to Under Secretary Helberg, Israel has some of the best talent and engineers in the world working at leading companies like Nvidia. “You can’t do any of these things without talent. If you are in the technology business, the team you build is the company you build and the company you build is the capabilities that you have. You need the best talent at the table to solve these problems.”
Helberg landed in Israel after signing similar agreements in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. “In the UAE, I think Pax Silica will help bring into fruition a lot of the potential unlocked by the Abraham Accords,” he said.
“I think for other countries that are signatories to Pax Silica but not the Abraham Accords, my view is pragmatic. The initiative is meant to address our supply chain security challenges, it's not meant to be a common ideology framework. I'm very happy that the Qataris were also very pragmatic about it and decided to take the historic step of cosigning with the Israelis. Ultimately I hope it leads to broader normalization. I am optimistic that shared supply chains over time will help increase linkages between both countries and hopefully unlock opportunities for diplomatic outcomes.”
Anna Ahronheim