The possibility of killer AI robots
A lethal, autonomous weapon system, which is commonly referred to as a “killer robot,” is any weapon system that uses artificial intelligence to identify, select, and kill targets without human control. This means that the decision to kill a human will be governed by an algorithm.
Many persons are of the view that these types of weapons are merely science fiction but given the increasing interest in the militarization of artificial intelligence (AI), lethal autonomous weapons could be introduced to the battlefield soon.
A 2019 review of arms manufacturers noted that Turkey’s state-owned arms manufacturer produces the Kargu. This is a type of drone that can select targets based on facial recognition. Israel’s aerospace industries also developed the HARPY. The HARPY is an all-weather day/night “Fire and Forget” autonomous weapon. It is programmed before launch to perform autonomous flight to a pre-defined “loitering area”, in which they loiter and search for radiating targets. The HARPY loitering munition (LM) detects, attacks, and destroys enemy radar emitters, hitting them with high hit accuracy. HARPY effectively suppresses hostile surface to air missiles and radar sites for long durations, loitering above enemy territory for hours. This weapon has already been sold to several countries. Furthermore, near term development and deployment of lethal autonomous weapons has been noted to be central to the military thinking of the United States, Russia and China, among others.
Autonomous weapons systems are also already showing signs of proliferation. In November 2019, then US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper warned that Chinese weapons manufacturers were already selling drones to the Middle East “advertised as capable of full autonomy, including the ability to conduct targeted strikes.” Exported cheap drones with a high level of autonomy were used extensively in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which has prompted speculation about the imminent role of small, exported, fully autonomous weapons.
Should we be worried about “killer robots”? Fully autonomous weapons will make it easier and cheaper to kill people. Eventually, the weapons might become extremely inexpensive. Already, drones can be purchased or built by hobbyists cheaply, and prices are likely to keep falling as the technology improves. Lethal autonomous weapons could be used to eliminate political opponents or for ethnic cleansing and genocide; drones can be programmed to target a certain kind of person.
Even with the best of laws to prevent the exploitation of these weapons, a genuine AI mistake could trigger a war that ends the human population.
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