Insta
Elon Musk, AI Leaders Call For Ban On Killer Robots Fearing “Third Revolution In Warfare”
Swarajya Staff
Aug 22, 2017, 04:33 PM | Updated 04:31 PM IST
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Elon Musk is among 116 experts in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics who have called for a ban on lethal autonomous weapons, or “killer robots”.
In their petition to the United Nations, the AI leaders have expressed their fear that development of such technology could lead to the third phase in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear weapons, and would “permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend”.
These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways.Letter to the United Nations
Fears of killer robots abound. Questions of morality arise when autonomous weapons are directed to carry out killings without human intervention. There is also the very serious concern that despots and terrorists could use the technology to unleash harm upon innocent people across the globe.
We should not lose sight of the fact that, unlike other potential manifestations of AI which still remain in the realm of science fiction, autonomous weapons systems are on the cusp of development right now and have a very real potential to cause significant harm to innocent people along with global instability.Clearpath Robotics founder Ryan Gariepy
Those in favour of autonomous weapons say the use of killer robots could reduce the number of casualties as they would be superior to humans in discriminating between civilians and combatants.
Others argue that attempts at restricting the development and use of this technology are impractical and already too late.
The United States, China, Russia and Israel are among the countries which are currently deploying lethal autonomous weapons.
Save & read from anywhere!
Bookmark stories for easy access on any device or the Swarajya app.
Support Swarajya's 50 Ground Reports Project & Sponsor A Story
Every general election Swarajya does a 50 ground reports project.
Aimed only at serious readers and those who appreciate the nuances of political undercurrents, the project provides a sense of India's electoral landscape. As you know, these reports are produced after considerable investment of travel, time and effort on the ground.
This time too we've kicked off the project in style and have covered over 30 constituencies already. If you're someone who appreciates such work and have enjoyed our coverage please consider sponsoring a ground report for just Rs 2999 to Rs 19,999 - it goes a long way in helping us produce more quality reportage.
You can also back this project by becoming a subscriber for as little as Rs 999 - so do click on this links and choose a plan that suits you and back us.
Click below to contribute.