Pat Pilcher reports on concerns over the next wave of weapons technology.
Academics, numerous rights advocates and former Nobel peace prize winners are combining in an effort to draws attention to the threat posed by robotic weapons. The group – called Stop The Killer Robots Initiative – is being headed up by artificial intelligence expert and Sheffield University professor, Dr Noel Sharkey. The aim of the group, unsurprisingly, is to get production of robotic weapons banned.
Sharkey has been quoted in the UK media as saying: โThese things are not science fiction, they are well into development.โ Sharkey is most likely referring to the work already done by the US government to develop and trial the X47B autonomous drone fighter aircraft. The X47B is able to independently target and engage enemies without any human intervention whatsoever.
Indications are that the US Air Force is already well down the path towards autonomous weapons with more drone pilots being trained by the USAF than actual fighter pilots. Stop The Killer Robots is concerned at the lack of transparency or legal process as more and more autonomous robots and drones are manufactured, becoming increasingly embedded into the military. According to comments made by Sharkey in UK media, โThe laws of war allow for rights of surrender, for prisoner of war rights, for a human face to take judgments on collateral damage. Humans are thinking, sentient beings. If a robot goes wrong, who is accountable? Certainly not the robot.โ
The military however, are likely to argue that replacing soldiers with machines could go a long way to preventing a significant amount of deaths, and that machines also offer many combat advantages over humans (they are impervious to fatigue, have night vision and significantly faster reaction times, for instance).
The Stop The Killer Robots campaign is to be officially launched in April in the UKโs House of Commons. Sharkey says that although he isnโt anti-war, the group is concerned that technology is moving too quickly and that autonomous robots could violate international laws of war. More importantly, Sharkey also held up the grisly spectre of an AI soldier being unable to โdistinguish between a child holding up a toy and an adult pointing a gunโ. PAT PILCHER
Group Calls For Ban On Autonomous Killer Robots
Latest from Thought Piece
Tech’s delusion of simplicity
We know how to push the right buttons on our shiny doodads but, asks ANNA BUTTERFIELD, do we know what's going on under the
Is this the solution to NZ’s media crisis?
NZ media is in a state of catastrophic upheaval and could be in its death throes. PAT PILCHER wonders if Canada has found a
Gosling’s got charisma-plus but The Fall Guy misses its mark
ASHTON BROWN can't get his pecker up about a film that despite good stunt-work is just another day another dollar for Ryan Gosling.
Let’s protect and value NZ’s media
PAT PILCHER examines the media crisis in New Zealand and what can be done to protect this essential tool to ensure the future of
1001 Albums You Must Die Before You Hear #100: Metallica with Lou Reed – Lulu
MATT KELLY somehow manages to listen to 90 minutes of possibly the worst collaborative album by major rock figures ever made.