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from the what-could-possibly-go-wrong? dept.
Turkey aims to produce unmanned tanks: Erdoğan
Turkey is targeting the production of unmanned tanks for its armed forces, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stated. "We will carry it a step further [after domestically produced unmanned aerial vehicles] ... We should reach the ability to produce unmanned tanks as well. We will do it," Erdoğan said at a meeting held at the presidential complex in Ankara on Feb. 21.
Five Turkish soldiers were recently killed in a tank near the Sheikh Haruz area of Syria's Afrin district, where Turkey has been carrying on a military operation against the People's Protection Units (YPG) since Jan. 20.
[...] The Turkish president has repeatedly criticized certain foreign countries for allegedly being reluctant to sell unmanned aerial vehicles, armed or unarmed, stressing that unmanned systems could decrease casualties.
Also at ABC.
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(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday February 23 2018, @02:24PM (2 children)
There does not seem to be any threat on the horizon of self-aware AI that could choose to be on it's own side. I'm sure we'll figure it out if we work long enough, but for the foreseeable future the threat is how the machines are used by the small cabal of people who control them. And how they malfunction, because their decisions are clearly not based on the same criteria we would use to generally make the same decisions.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 23 2018, @05:27PM (1 child)
Yes, I realize that.
Try this one instead:
Unmanned weapons are only a good thing if they are on your side. As long as they don't decide to be on the side of the contractor who built them.
Don't put a mindless tool of corporations in the white house; vote ChatGPT for 2024!
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Friday February 23 2018, @11:13PM
It's extremely unlikely they'll go that way either - the contractors have a good deal going, and know full well that the first time they turn their weapons turn against the owners, all their clients around the world are going to start shopping with their competitors.
I suppose it's remotely possible that one manufacturer would gain enough of the total market share that they had a realistic chance of taking out all their competitors hardware, as well as the conventional militaries involved, and conquer enough area to be worth losing their entire global market. But if they wanted to conquer the world they probably would have gone into politics instead of manufacturing.
Try a more realistic take:
Unmanned weapons are only a good thing if they are on your side, and not the side of the government or military that you for some reason imagined was on your side.