HAL-9000 is coming
25/8/19 13:33![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nairiporter posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
talkpoliticsThe 50 largest hi-tech companies in the world have been ranked by a Dutch NGO along three criteria: could they develop killer robot technologies, are they currently working on such projects, and do they intend to ever develop such technologies. And Amazon and Microsoft are among the companies placed at the top of the new AI arms race, as per their report.
Using AI in weapons technologies would allow such systems to autonomously choose and attack their targets. And this is very controversial from an ethical standpoint.
The critics of these plans argue that their development poses a threat to international security and even that autonomous weapons systems involving AI could bring about the so called Third Military Revolution (after the invention of gunpowder, and the nuclear bomb).
In fact, Amazon, Microsoft and the likes do not deny that they are developing these controversial systems, even though they could potentially evolve to a level where they would begin to choose to kill people without any involvement of a human operator.
Specifically, the report lists 22 hi-tech companies in the "medium risk" bracket, while another 21 are in the "high risk" segment, Amazon and Microsoft among them. These companies are currently competing for contracts with the Pentagon worth 10 billion dollars, proposing an upload of an extensive US military database into the cloud.
There are companies in the "best practices" bracket, meaning their activities are not likely to lead to the emergence of killer robots. Those are 7 companies, like the Japanese Softbank which developed the Pepper android.
At his point, it looks inavitable that autonomous weapons will become WMDs, because if people are not involved in the decision-making chain, they would end up with a single person wielding the capacity to activate thousands if not millions of deadly weapons - and then even that element being eventually removed, making the weapon itself a decision-maker.
The more worrying thing is that it seems these autonomous weapons will most likely be developed by private corporations. So when the political campaign inevitably begins to promote their wide spreading, these corporations will be very active lobbyists, and they will likely prevail, and further shape the entire military legislation of the future. And if this isn't the most disconcerting thought at this point, I really don't know what is.
Using AI in weapons technologies would allow such systems to autonomously choose and attack their targets. And this is very controversial from an ethical standpoint.
The critics of these plans argue that their development poses a threat to international security and even that autonomous weapons systems involving AI could bring about the so called Third Military Revolution (after the invention of gunpowder, and the nuclear bomb).
In fact, Amazon, Microsoft and the likes do not deny that they are developing these controversial systems, even though they could potentially evolve to a level where they would begin to choose to kill people without any involvement of a human operator.
Specifically, the report lists 22 hi-tech companies in the "medium risk" bracket, while another 21 are in the "high risk" segment, Amazon and Microsoft among them. These companies are currently competing for contracts with the Pentagon worth 10 billion dollars, proposing an upload of an extensive US military database into the cloud.
There are companies in the "best practices" bracket, meaning their activities are not likely to lead to the emergence of killer robots. Those are 7 companies, like the Japanese Softbank which developed the Pepper android.
At his point, it looks inavitable that autonomous weapons will become WMDs, because if people are not involved in the decision-making chain, they would end up with a single person wielding the capacity to activate thousands if not millions of deadly weapons - and then even that element being eventually removed, making the weapon itself a decision-maker.
The more worrying thing is that it seems these autonomous weapons will most likely be developed by private corporations. So when the political campaign inevitably begins to promote their wide spreading, these corporations will be very active lobbyists, and they will likely prevail, and further shape the entire military legislation of the future. And if this isn't the most disconcerting thought at this point, I really don't know what is.
