shinobi602
Member
Obligatory:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...r-ban-on-autonomous-weaponry-and-military-ai/A very large number of scientific and technological luminaries have signed an open letter calling for the world's governments to ban the development of "offensive autonomous weapons" to prevent a "military AI arms race."
The letter, which will be presented at the International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI) in Buenos Aires tomorrow, is signed by Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Noam Chomsky, the Woz, and dozens of other AI and robotics researchers.
For the most part, the letter is concerned with dumb robots and vehicles being turned into smart autonomous weapons. Cruise missiles and remotely piloted drones are okay, according to the letter, because "humans make all targeting decisions." The development of fully autonomous weapons that can fight and kill without human intervention should be nipped in the bud, however.
Here's one of the main arguments from the letter:
"The key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting. If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow."
Later, the letter draws a strong parallel between autonomous weapons and chemical/biological warfare:
"Just as most chemists and biologists have no interest in building chemical or biological weapons, most AI researchers have no interest in building AI weapons — and do not want others to tarnish their field by doing so, potentially creating a major public backlash against AI that curtails its future societal benefits."