Why we need to stop military killer robots now

[cronus]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... s-now.html

Why we need to stop military killer robots now

Artificial intelligence expert Mark Bishop says a ban on weapons that can deploy and destroy without human intervention is vital

What is the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots?
It is a confederation of non-governmental organisations and pressure groups lobbying for a ban on producing and deploying fully autonomous weapon systems – where the ability of a human to both choose the precise target and intervene in the final decision to attack is removed.

How close are we to this?
Examples already exist. Some, such as the Phalanx gun system, used on the majority of US Navy ships to detect and automatically engage incoming threats, have been around for some time. Another is the Israeli Harpy "fire-and-forget" unmanned aerial vehicle, which will seek out and destroy radar installations.

What's driving the technology's development?
Current Western military strategy focuses more on drones than on traditional forces, but remote-controlled drones are vulnerable to hijacking. Fully autonomous systems are virtually immune to this. They also lower costs. This means manufacturers sell more, so there is a commercial imperative to develop autonomous systems and for governments to deploy them.

What are the dangers?
There are reasons to doubt whether autonomous systems can appropriately judge the need to engage, react to threats proportionately or reliably discriminate between combatants and civilians. Also, when you get complex software systems interacting, there is huge potential for unforeseen consequences. A vivid example was seen on Amazon in 2011 when pricing bots raised the cost of a book, The Making of a Fly, to over $23 million.

So, you are worried about escalation?
Yes. In South Korea scientists are developing a robot to patrol the border with North Korea. If this was deployed and incorrectly or disproportionately engaged, it is easy to imagine a minor border incursion escalating into a serious confrontation. Even more frighteningly, in 1983, during the US military exercise Able Archer, Russian automatic defence systems falsely detected an incoming missile, and it was only a Russian colonel's intervention that averted nuclear war. But the potential for escalation gets particularly scary when you have autonomous systems interacting with other autonomous systems.

(continued, Terminator in 3d Realivision)

[Mysturji]

[Tyrannical]

Yes. In South Korea scientists are developing a robot to patrol the border with North Korea. If this was deployed and incorrectly or disproportionately engaged, it is easy to imagine a minor border incursion escalating into a serious confrontation

They've had automated defense turrets for years that will shoot anything that moves. But that really isn't any different than a landmine that will detonate when anything steps on it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

On behalf of Terminators everywhere/when, I object to this thread.

[Pappa]

While I generally oppose killer robots, I wonder if there are any statistics on whether they're more or less likely to result in friendly fire incidents than humans.

[Mysturji]

While I generally oppose killer robots, I wonder if there are any statistics on whether they're more or less likely to result in friendly fire incidents than humans.

You have 20 seconds to comply.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

While I generally oppose killer robots, I wonder if there are any statistics on whether they're more or less likely to result in friendly fire incidents than humans.

As we, officially at least, don't have autonomous killer robots, the stats would be inadequate for a competent estimation.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Question is, if one did fuck up...who carries the can?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Question is, if one did fuck up...who carries the can?

Blame will be spread so thin nobody will get even a slap on the wrist. Unless they need somebody to "take one for the team", i.e., somebody on somebody's shit list.

[Pappa]

Question is, if one did fuck up...who carries the can?

I don't think the issue of determining liability when automated car parking systems fail has been resolved yet.

[pErvinalia]

Yes. In South Korea scientists are developing a robot to patrol the border with North Korea. If this was deployed and incorrectly or disproportionately engaged, it is easy to imagine a minor border incursion escalating into a serious confrontation

They've had automated defense turrets for years that will shoot anything that moves. But that really isn't any different than a landmine that will detonate when anything steps on it.

There's a difference between stationary defensive automated weapons and mobile offensive weapons.

[pErvinalia]

While I generally oppose killer robots, I wonder if there are any statistics on whether they're more or less likely to result in friendly fire incidents than humans.

Jeezus, haven't you seen Terminator?!?

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Question is, if one did fuck up...who carries the can?

Blame will be spread so thin nobody will get even a slap on the wrist. Unless they need somebody to "take one for the team", i.e., somebody on somebody's shit list.

Yes.
And...

I don't think the issue of determining liability when automated car parking systems fail has been resolved yet.

Quite.

[Sean Hayden]

Smart robots are very difficult to make. Instead you can just separate out all of the components/capabilities you're trying to put into one and distribute them among your units, ensure they can all communicate and that their data can be passed back to Skynet, and you're off...

[laklak]

If autonomous killer robots are outlawed only outlaws will have autonomous killer robots!