Is robotic warfare going too far?
Scientists from around the world have formed the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) in an attempt to influence decisions regarding the use of robots in war. Unmanned drones are commonplace in Iraq and Afghanistan, and according to ICRAC almost 50 countries either already have or are developing war robots. The committee fears that advances in robotic systems will lead to more countries committing to war, since robots would be taking the place of humans on the battlefield.
Current military robots include the Predator and Reaper air drones, as well as the Talon ground drone. All of these systems are remotely controlled by humans, but ICRAC is concerned that these drones will eventually have artificial intelligence and the ability to make the decisions its human operator now makes.
Another concern goes beyond a country’s decision to go to war based on the use of war robots. If the robots being used do indeed have artificial intelligence, what would prevent them from escalating the war far beyond what was originally intended? Or what if the robots decide to start a war because they alone decide it is worthwhile? These foreboding possibilities fall on deaf ears of the world’s militaries, as they hurriedly attempt to construct the next big military robot system.
ICRAC is starting small though, and asking for two things: a ban of both war robots in space and nuclear armed war robots. Currently there are only a few members in ICRAC: Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield, UK; Jürgen Altmann of Dortmund University of Technology, Germany; Robert Sparrow of the Centre for Human Bioethics, Monash University, Australia; and Peter Asaro of Rutgers University, United States. They are looking to recruit more members in order to expand their influence and reach. The current group is putting together a report to present to the European parliament and are also organizing a conference in Germany in hopes of drawing more researchers, scientists and military experts to their cause.
::from NewScientist::
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Twitter Username: decembersun
says:
It’s like something straight out of a movie…
Yeah it is. If science fiction is a thermometer for our future with robots, I’m pretty sure we’re all screwed.