IDF chief Eyal Zamir says army must lead globally in AI and robotics

The chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, told a gathering on bringing artificial intelligence into the army that Israel's military must become a world leader in AI and robotics, according to remarks released by the IDF spokesperson. He spoke at the close of what the military described as a special conference on the subject, held on November 2, 2026.

Zamir described artificial intelligence as "a revolution" shaping the 21st century, and said the battlefield has recently gone through one of the quickest and most far-reaching shifts in the history of warfare. The Times of Israel reported that he described global leadership in adopting advanced AI and robotics as "an obligation" for the military, framing this as necessary to meet the demands of war and to win.

Who Zamir is and why his words carry weight

The IDF is Israel's military, covering its ground, air and naval forces. Its most senior officer holds the title Chief of the General Staff, often shortened in English to chief of staff and known in Hebrew as the Ramatkal. The holder of the post holds the rank of lieutenant general, the highest in the Israeli military, and answers to the government through the defence minister. When the chief of staff describes a new operational direction in public, it is generally read as a statement of policy for the whole force rather than a personal view.

What the plan involves

The most concrete element in the reports is what Zamir called a concept of "integrated human-machine warfare." According to the Times of Israel, he said the IDF would strengthen and develop this concept as part of a new operational approach, in which units staffed by soldiers would operate in coordination with systems that have no crew on board.

The Hebrew news site News.co.il summarised the speech as a pledge that the military will speed up the use of AI and robotics in combat as it prepares for the battlefield of the future. In its account, the stated goals of pairing manned forces with unmanned systems are to gain operational superiority and to make forces more efficient.

Ynet, one of Israel's most widely read news sites, carried a short Hebrew alert on the remarks. Its headline paraphrased Zamir as saying that the battlefield is changing and that the IDF must lead in innovation.

Two translations of the same speech

The remarks were delivered in Hebrew, and the English versions in circulation differ slightly in their wording. The IDF's own English release has Zamir saying AI is reshaping the century and that the battlefield is undergoing a profound transformation. The Times of Israel, which said it was working from remarks published by the IDF, rendered the same passage as AI changing the face of the century and the battlefield having undergone deep change. The meaning is the same in both versions; the difference lies in translation choices, and readers comparing quotes across outlets may notice it.

How this fits the wider picture

The reports frame the speech within a broader argument Zamir made about the pace of military change: that new technology is altering how wars are fought and that armies which fall behind will struggle. The idea of soldiers working alongside drones, robots and other uncrewed platforms is a theme many militaries are exploring. Zamir's remarks, as reported, present it as a formal part of the IDF's thinking rather than an experiment at the margins.

The IDF also circulated photographs from the event alongside its statement. Times of Israel military correspondent Emanuel Fabian posted the same account of the speech on Telegram and on X shortly before it appeared on the paper's live blog.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports name the venue or the organisers of the conference, or say who else spoke or attended. They do not describe any specific AI system, programme, budget or timeline, nor do they say which units would be the first to operate under the human-machine concept or when it would take effect. The reports do not address how decisions involving AI would be supervised, or whether any legal or ethical guidelines were discussed. The available English and Hebrew texts are partial excerpts, so other parts of the speech may not yet be public. All of the substance comes from the IDF's own published remarks, as relayed by the outlets above.