Greece’s Armed Forces to train children with autism for military purposes

Shocking and unacceptable: Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said that the Greek Armed Forces will train children on the autism spectrum in skills suitable for military defense, such as image recognition required in AI systems and drones with the aim to identify targets.

Dendias’ “vision” to equip children with autism to select potential targets for military attacks has triggered an outrage among associations and on social media.

Speaking at the Rotary Club of Athens last week, Dendias said that the Defense Ministry intends for the Armed Forces to train children on the autism spectrum in skills suitable for military defense, such as image recognition required in artificial intelligence systems and drones – “and Israel has special units for this,” he said.

He specifically spoke of children of the military personnel.

Video: Dendias at Rotary Club, full statement:

Εδώ ο Δένδιας λέει ότι ο στρατός θα εκπαιδεύσει παιδιά με αυτισμό για εξολόθρευση στόχων από drone.
Ανοίξτε τα αυτιά σας.
Παρακάτω όλη η ομιλία για να δείτε ότι ακριβώς αυτό λέει και δεν είναι κοπτοραπτική pic.twitter.com/MxoLbNdFDz

— Rosasharn (@Stogios40) November 8, 2024

“We want his (the Greek soldier’s) family to have the best protection. Which means a kindergarten for his child, a special school for children with special needs. Let me give you an example, autism. Autism a few years ago was not in our vocabulary, it gives children who have some problems, but they also have special skills. So we will create a school where the children of military personnel who have autism will be supported. And their own potential, what is it? It is to be able to see photos and distinguish their special features. In AI, you need what is called BIG DATA. Our AI systems need hundreds of thousands of target photos, which they will need to memorize and our drone will need to see the target and shoot at. The best ones who can see the small differences, and teach the Drone with AI, are children with autism, and Israel has special units for this. So we will take the children of our officers, train them and find them jobs.”

Strong reactions

A strong and angry reaction to the Minister’s unacceptable plan came from several organizations dealing with children of special needs and qualifications.

The Disability Action Coordination Committee (SEAAN), the Unified Association of Parents and Guardians of the Disabled of Attica and the islands, as well as the Union of Employees in Units – Institutions – Special Education Schools (SEMISEA) expressed a strong reaction to this unacceptable plan, newspaper rizospastis.gr reported.

“Aren’t they ashamed!” the Associations said in a joint statement about the minister’s and the government’s who “had the audacity to tell the officers, parents of children with disabilities, to accept our involvement in the war, that their state will take care of their children with autism by training them to kill other children. By training them in drones modeled after, as he said without any hesitation, the army of the murderous state of Israel, who have integrated children with autism into the drone units”, killing thousands of children.

The association pointed out that “they have the perversion to think that the vision of a parent of an autistic child is to train their child to kill other children.”

PS I personally find Dendias’ proposal “sickening” because
1. it exploits the needs of parents with children on the autism spectrum instead of providing adequate help and support.
2. It ignores the needs of such children, how much more their consent.
3. It reminds features of the Nazi ideology with the “Lebensborn” scheme.
4. Is Greece at war with some one and we don’t know it?

What do you think?