I often find myself boggling at the advances we make in AI and warfare. This news article calls for international legistation regarding unmanned fighting vehicles. Quite a scray quote is:
Noel Sharkey, a professor of robotics and artificial intelligence at Sheffield University, said: ”Our biggest concern … is autonomous systems that [select] targets themselves.”
And I think that’s a valid concern!
This comes after the announcement of the EATR robot last year, designed to refuel by consuming things it finds. The most worrying thing was it was initially described as “mostly vegetarian“. That statement was corrected to ‘strictly vegetarian’ but at that point I was somehow less comforted. (hey, I work in IT, I’ve seen many systems not do what they are ‘supposed to’).
And actually the title of this article is somewhat misleading, as SKYNET is already here! SKYNET is the name of a satellite system in the UK which provides secure telecommunications to British armed forces. The military don’t actually own these satellites by the way, they mearly rent them from a company called Paradigm Secure Communications.
Hmmm.. paradigm.. why that sounds a little like CYBERDYNE….
I for one welcome our new robot overlords. Please don’t refuel with me!
