Rise of killer robots: The danger of humanity?

Robot technology is growing, leading to an increasing concern about the dangers they can bring.

Are humans destroyed by killer robots?

Topics related to the types of automatic weapons capable of killing (or the media often referred to as "killer robots" ) returned to the UN agenda last week. The campaign to stop the killer robot was launched in 2013, and this problem was quickly absorbed by the United Nations Conference on Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva.

Toby Walsh - professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales and leader of the research team at Data61, the senior research and information technology and communication center in Sydney, Australia - The person who spent the whole life The life of research on artificial intelligence gave five main reasons why he was really concerned about the development of the killer robot.

1. Assassin robots are very close to us

If you've ever seen and believed in what the movie 'Terminator' refers to, the killer robot will appear in 2029 . But the fact of making killer robots is much simpler and they may appear in just a few years. Think about the technology of the current unmanned and Hellfire missiles and missiles, but with the control of a computer program instead of being controlled by humans. Now, technology like that can be completely developed quickly.

Professor Toby Walsh.

2. A weapon race will take place

Once a robot assassin is built, there will be a weapon race to improve and upgrade the robots. And the end of such a weapon race is exactly the kind of terrifying destruction technology that you see in "Terminator" will appear. Moore's law predicts that the number of computer chips will double every two years. And it is likely that we will witness the same exponential growth for killer robots.

3. The killer robots will not stop growing

Assassin robots will be born with cheaper prices, like the price reduction of unmanned aircraft in the last few years.

If you own a helicopter, add a smartphone and a gun or a small bomb. Then someone wrote you the AI ​​software (a kind of artificial intelligence software for machines) that you have in hand a kind of killer robot. The military will certainly love this technology because assassin robots do not need to sleep or rest, nor need long and expensive training, or evacuate the battlefield when damaged.

However, when the military system has to protect itself and against killer robots, they may have to think again.

4. Assassin robots will kill many civilians

According to The Intercept, in five months of conducting US military operations against the Taliban and al Qaeda in the Hindu Kush in 2011, "every 9 out of 10" died in an attack by unmanned aircraft. must be a direct target of the United States. This forces people to stand on the brink of danger between life and death. Because currently, the AI ​​program does not mention the situation perception, or the decision of the pilot, which makes the aircraft unmanned.

A scene from the 1984 film 'The Terminator' (The Terminator).

The figures on the unmanned aircraft system are completely even worse. Over time, these robots will be developed on par with if not to exceed the capabilities of humans. And the debate also started. For example, what happens if assassin robots fall into the wrong hands, including those who are not afraid to use them against civilians. That will be the perfect weapon for terrorists. Assassin robots will make war easy.

5. It will be very difficult to get close to the killer robot

In the future, simple software updates can also turn non-automatic or non-lethal systems into lethal automatic weapons. So controlling the killer robot will be very difficult.

We are launching technologies that can be used for killer robots. These technologies are similar to the technology of auto cars. Each year, about 30,000 people die on US routes, and 1.2 million people worldwide. This number will drop sharply when auto cars become popular.

But doing something difficult doesn't mean we shouldn't try. And even the ban is only partially effective, as the use of anti-personnel mines is still considered valuable.

My point is that we need to control killer robots to prevent a weapon race and the view that we need to act quickly needs to be shared by many people - Mr. Toby Walsh said. And an open letter called for the issuance of a ban on killer robots that was launched in July this year. The letter is signed by leading AI and robot researchers, CEOs of Google's DeepMind, Facebook's AI Research Lab, the Allen Institute for AI, as well as thousands of people around the world.

In November, the United Nations Conference on Conventional Weapons will re-convene in Geneva to decide whether to continue to consider this issue or whether to proceed to issuing a ban. with killer robot? For the sake of the world, I hope they will issue such a ban.