Sleep easy this week, as a top U.S. military man said that the Pentagon was aware of the possibility that future autonomous weapons of war could rise up against humanity, and that they are were working to prevent it.
Good stuff!
As you may know, robotics and artificial intelligence and the military are becoming more and more inexorably intertwined in the 21st century. It’s a mixed fucking bag. While eliminating human error from military operations is excellent, putting the decision of who lives and dies in the hands of an algorithm is not all that comforting.
All throughout looms the Skynet situation, where a military AI becomes self-aware and turns on us.
In a presentation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said that he knows it could happen, but hopes to stop it. Good!
From the U.S. Navy Institute:
We’re not talking about cruise missiles or mines,” but “robotic systems to do lethal harm… a Terminator without a conscience,” Air Force Gen. Paul Selva said.
“Our job is to defeat the enemy,” he said answering a question about autonomous weapons and artificial intelligence in warfare. But “it is governed by law and by convention,” Selva said.
“That ethical boundary is the one we’ve draw a pretty fine line on. It’s one we must consider in developing these new weapons,” he said.
Selva said that keeping humans in charge of these systems is critical, to ensure robots act in a moral fashion.
Great, just, you know, I don’t think us asking them to stay nice will do the trick.
But hey at least we aren’t letting them run buck wild. For now.
[H/T Mirror]