AI drone swarms that choose their own kill targets are the next ‘weapons of mass destruction’, scientists warn
SCIENTISTS have warned that autonomous drones powered by artificial intelligence could cause harm to civilians.
In a recent study, researchers have claimed that AI-powered instruments are the new weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
“Technological progress has brought about the emergence of machines that have the capacity to take human lives without human control,” the paper reads.
“These represent an unprecedented threat to humankind,” it continued.
These autonomous weapon systems (AWS) include AI drones that are already being developed by countries like the United States and China.
Drones are aerial devices that initially were controlled remotely by a person, however, now they work autonomously without human control.
Insect-sized drones that are “reduced to undetectable devices capable of administering lethal biochemical substances through their stings” are also of concern to the researchers.
They note that science and society are challenged by such unprecedented technologies because they might not always be developed responsibly.
“The potential consequences of a deployment of AWS for citizen stakeholders are incommensurable, and it is time to raise awareness in the public domain of the kind of potential threats identified and to encourage legal policies ensuring that these threats will not materialize,” the paper reads.
DRONE TECH
Today’s AI drones use machine learning and sensors to gather data, assess their environment, and even fire an attack on their own.
The paper notes that these armed, fully autonomous drone swarms are deemed to become future weapons of mass destruction.
This is because they combine “two properties unique to traditional weapons of mass destruction.”
The first is the ability to cause mass harm and the second is the lack of human control to ensure the weapons do not harm civilians.
“Experts doubt that any single autonomous weapon could ever be capable of adequately discriminating between civilian and military targets, and with thousands or tens of thousands of drones in a swarm, this risk becomes incommensurable,” the paper reads.
In conclusion, the paper deems that AWS are deadly devices that can identify potential targets and independently choose to attack them based on algorithms.
In response to this growing threat, the researchers propose that experts increase multidisciplinary research and dialogue around the topic.
Specifically, they call for public discussions on ethical and moral responsibility on AWS.