Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking call for ban on autonomous military robots

[Lord Sparklebottom]

Robots are becoming more and more intelligent *cough* Skynet *cough*, and thankfully people are trying to control it.

Over 1,000 people from the worlds of tech, space travel, computing, and mathematics have signed an open letter calling for an end to the autonomous weapons arms race. The letter will be presented tomorrow in Buenos Aires at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. 

Some of those people are Steve Wozniak (AKA Woz), Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking.

Musk and Hawking has previously warned people of the dangers of AI, and are still going strong about it.

 

Read the full letter below:

Autonomous weapons select and engage targets without human intervention. They might include, for example, armed quadcopters that can search for and eliminate people meeting certain pre-defined criteria, but do not include cruise missiles or remotely piloted drones for which humans make all targeting decisions. Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has reached a point where the deployment of such systems is — practically if not legally — feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.

Many arguments have been made for and against autonomous weapons, for example that replacing human soldiers by machines is good by reducing casualties for the owner but bad by thereby lowering the threshold for going to battle. The key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it from starting. If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow. Unlike nuclear weapons, they require no costly or hard-to-obtain raw materials, so they will become ubiquitous and cheap for all significant military powers to mass-produce. It will only be a matter of time until they appear on the black market and in the hands of terrorists, dictators wishing to better control their populace, warlords wishing to perpetrate ethnic cleansing, etc. Autonomous weapons are ideal for tasks such as assassinations, destabilizing nations, subduing populations and selectively killing a particular ethnic group. We therefore believe that a military AI arms race would not be beneficial for humanity. There are many ways in which AI can make battlefields safer for humans, especially civilians, without creating new tools for killing people.

Just as most chemists and biologists have no interest in building chemical or biological weapons, most AI researchers have no interest in building AI weapons — and do not want others to tarnish their field by doing so, potentially creating a major public backlash against AI that curtails its future societal benefits. Indeed, chemists and biologists have broadly supported international agreements that have successfully prohibited chemical and biological weapons, just as most physicists supported the treaties banning space-based nuclear weapons and blinding laser weapons.

In summary, we believe that AI has great potential to benefit humanity in many ways, and that the goal of the field should be to do so. Starting a military AI arms race is a bad idea, and should be prevented by a ban on offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control.

 

Source: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/elon-musk-and-stephen-hawking-call-for-ban-on-autonomou-1720383277?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

[IAMSWIFT1]

PLZZZZZZZ DO DIS

[SurvivorNVL]

And they should also call on all world governments for full transparency so that they don't do this in secret.

[Real_PhillBert]

Weaponized AI does seem wildly dangerous. I can see why they would want to limit AI, but governments will not listen. 

[IAMSWIFT1]

Weaponized AI does seem wildly dangerous. I can see why they would want to limit AI, but governments will not listen. 

And If They Don't Listen They're Gonna Be Some Little Prankster Getting Shot By The AI And Then Something Will Happen

[Lord Sparklebottom]

Weaponized AI does seem wildly dangerous. I can see why they would want to limit AI, but governments will not listen. 

If we shout loud enough they might

[AustinTheIntern]

And they should also call on all world governments for full transparency so that they don't do this in secret.

Pfft, even if they do agree, governments are still going to research this in secret. Think about what DARPA is already doing behind us. 

[Tech_Dreamer]

You know, if AI got all the firepower & did the same thing as us Humans do as we do now to keep the peace, we'll pretty much label it terrorism & won't hesitate to shut it down..

[techswede]

I really hope this passes.

A soldier can be reasoned with.. A robot can not.

[Real_PhillBert]

If we shout loud enough they might

 

You're an optimist. I like that, stay positive.

[Lord Sparklebottom]

I really hope this passes.

A soldier can be reasoned with.. A robot can not.

Chappie might ;D

[Ahaber]

 

International Join Conference on Artificial Intelligence. 

 

It should be International JOINT Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

[Lord Sparklebottom]

It should be International JOINT Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

Fixed

[techswede]

Chappie might ;D

I haven't seen that movie yet. Is it any good?

[cesrai]

It should be International JOINT Conference on Artificial Intelligence.

Why ?

[Lord Sparklebottom]

I haven't seen that movie yet. Is it any good?

To be honest, me neither. BUT the trailer looks cool 

[Lord Sparklebottom]

Why ?

Because it is the correct name

[SurvivorNVL]

Pfft, even if they do agree, governments are still going to research this in secret. Think about what DARPA is already doing behind us. 

I am sure someone, somewhere, one-day will find a way to actually institute a state of true transparency for governments.  The problem being is that if it happens to them, they'd apply it to all things.  Which ends up with a future either staying the same with secrets or a future where there is no such thing as privacy for anyone or thing.

[qwertywarrior]

this is extremely biased and one sided

where are the robots opinions on this ?

[AHaskin14]

I disagree that cruise missles are human targeted. Most all CIWS (close in weapon systems) electronically lock on and fire at incoming missles.

[Briggsy]

They will likely test out these AI military robots at anti-Military Robot Protest Rallies. regardless of the outcome, the protesters lose.

[FPS with a Wacom Tablet]

If anything, I believe all wars should be fought in melee...

 

(Oh wait, they already made robots doing that ;P)

 

Honestly though, both belligerent sides need to recognize the killing intent of another in front of each other, not locked up behind concrete doors and a robot army.

War is meant to be recognized by everyone; doing it in secret is called oppression.

[cesrai]

Because it is the correct name

Elaborate please.

[Lord Sparklebottom]

Elaborate please.

I don't know why it's named that, but it is, sooooo yeah.

[xeromynd]

You know, thank fucking god there are people out there like Hawking and Musk that are researching the potential downsides of AI. We really need this.