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Robot Weapons: What’s the Harm?

posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday August 18 2015, @06:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the skynet-is-beginning dept.

mendax writes:

Opposition to the creation of autonomous robot weapons have been the subject of discussion here recently. The New York Times has added another voice to the chorus with this article:

The specter of autonomous weapons may evoke images of killer robots, but most applications are likely to be decidedly more pedestrian. Indeed, while there are certainly risks involved, the potential benefits of artificial intelligence on the battlefield — to soldiers, civilians and global stability — are also significant.

The authors of the letter liken A.I.-based weapons to chemical and biological munitions, space-based nuclear missiles and blinding lasers. But this comparison doesn't stand up under scrutiny. However high-tech those systems are in design, in their application they are "dumb" — and, particularly in the case of chemical and biological weapons, impossible to control once deployed.

A.I.-based weapons, in contrast, offer the possibility of selectively sparing the lives of noncombatants, limiting their use to precise geographical boundaries or times, or ceasing operation upon command (or the lack of a command to continue).

Personally, I dislike the idea of using AI in weapons to make targeting decisions. I would hate to have to argue with a smart bomb to try to convince it that it should not carry out what it thinks is is mission because of an error.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18 2015, @02:02PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 18 2015, @02:02PM (#224411)

    Having read the article....

    They make a *very* good point. Autonomous weapons will come from pedestrian sorts of things. It is not a big stretch to turn a self driving car into a self driving bomb. The first set of autonomous weapons like this will come out of things everyone wants. The next leap after that will be the AI deciding it needs to use a weapon all by itself. But 'gen 1' will be human initiated.

  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday August 18 2015, @05:21PM

    by Freeman (732) on Tuesday August 18 2015, @05:21PM (#224493) Journal

    What's more likely? Using a remote control car ($500 tops) to deliver a bomb or using a self driving car ($10,000 minimum and possibly more) to deliver a bomb?

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @02:53PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 19 2015, @02:53PM (#225016)
    Don't forget, this is Soylent "Pollyanna" News we're talking about. Where autonomous weapons systems making life & death decisions for us is BAD, but autonomous vehicles making life & death decisions for us is GOOD. Get with the groupthink!