A graphic new video posits a very scary future in which swarms of killer microdrones are dispatched to kill political activists and US lawmakers. Armed with explosive charges, the palm-sized quadcopters use real-time data mining and artificial intelligence to find and kill their targets.
The makers of the seven-minute film titled Slaughterbots are hoping the startling dramatization will draw attention to what they view as a looming crisis — the development of lethal, autonomous weapons, select and fire on human targets without human guidance.
This fictional video about AI-powered weapons makes The Terminator look like a Disney film
The Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to mitigating existential risks posed by advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, commissioned the film. Founded by a group of scientists and business leaders, the institute is backed by AI-skeptics Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, among others.
As of 2017, 125 nations have pledged to honor the convention's resolutions, including all five permanent members of the UN Security Council — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is hosting a series of meetings at this year's event to propose a worldwide ban on lethal autonomous weapons, which could potentially be developed as flying drones, self-driving tanks, or automated sentry guns. While no nation or state is openly deploying such weaponry, it's widely assumed that various military groups around the world are developing lethal weapons powered by artificial intelligence.
Advocates for a ban on lethal, autonomous weapons argue there is a clear moral imperative: Machines should never decide when human lives or dies.
The technologies depicted in the short film are all based on viable systems that are up and running today, such as facial recognition, automated targeting, and weaponized aerial drones.
"This short film is more than just speculation," said Stuart Russell, professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, and a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence. "It shows the results of integrating and miniaturizing technologies we already have."
Representatives from more than 70 states are expected to attend the Geneva meeting on lethal autonomous weapons systems this week, according to a statement from the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Representatives from the scientific and technical communities will be stating their case to the assembled delegates.
"Allowing machines to choose to kill humans will be devastating to our security and our freedom," Russell says in a short commentary at the end of the video. "Thousands of my fellow researchers agree. We have an opportunity to prevent the future you just saw, but the window to act is closing fast."
If you woke up today feeling like the world wasn’t a very scary place, and for some reason, you didn’t want to continue feeling that way, we’ve got the remedy for you. “Slaughterbots” is seven minutes and forty-seven seconds of sheer horror designed to be a fictional warning against a future full of killer robots.
The issue at hand is autonomous weapons with the ‘ability’ to kill people without meaningful human direction. It’s a very real concern for some of the world’s top scientific minds including Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking.
Watch for yourself, if you dare, but be forewarned: the following video might be considered disturbing. It’s not particularly gruesome, but it is violent and very provocative. The faint-of-heart or easily frightened may want to pass this one uThe future shown in the video doesn’t look very far off, which is why it’s so incredibly scary. It could be next Tuesday, based on what we’re seeing in the video and what we already know about AI and drone technology.
At least it doesn’t feature insect cyborgs, which by the way are very real.
What’s more terrifying than the imagery is the attitude portrayed in the short film, one which doesn’t seem so far off from the current state of political divisiveness around the world. A fictional presenter introduces a new product by saying:
They used to say guns don’t kill people, people do. Well, people don’t. They get emotional, disobey orders, aim high. Let’s watch the weapons make the decisions.
Typically the idea of killer robots is accompanied by visions of powerful steel machines capable of withstanding mass amounts of damage and dishing out destruction with heavy firepower. In “Slaughterbots,” however, the danger comes from tiny drones.
The video was created by Autonomousweapons.org and Stuart Russell, a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Berkeley. According to him:
This short film is more than just speculation. It shows the results of integrating and miniaturizing technology that we already have.
Luckily there are several companies working on anti-drone technology, and governments are certainly aware of the potential threat that AI presents, especially when it comes to drone swarms.
The story in the “Slaughterbots” video is more like something out of Netflix’s “Black Mirror” (which had a similar episode focused on electronic bees) than a realistic scenario – though it seems possible, even plausible.
Anyone know where I can get some drone-proof windows? Asking for a friend.
Originally published on Seeker & TNW
Click on FB icon to like and share if you really care...