![]() ![]() The threat comes this time from artificial intelligence, and in particular the development of lethal autonomous weapons: weapons that can identify, track and destroy targets without human intervention. Open letter: we must stop killer robots before they are built Nevertheless, they pose a similar threat to global stability. And the technologies weren’t being developed in secret. Only this time, the petition wasn’t secret. Six years ago, thousands of my colleagues issued a similar warning about a new threat. All the resources of the United States, moral and material, may have to be mobilized to prevent the advent of such a world situation …īillions of dollars have since been spent on nuclear arsenals that maintain the threat of mutually assured destruction, the “continuous danger of sudden annihilation” that the physicists warned about in July 1945. If after this war a situation is allowed to develop in the world which permits rival powers to be in uncontrolled possession of these new means of destruction, the cities of the United States as well as the cities of other nations will be in continuous danger of sudden annihilation. Thus a nation which sets the precedent of using these newly liberated forces of nature for purposes of destruction may have to bear the responsibility of opening the door to an era of devastation on an unimaginable scale. The atomic bombs at our disposal represent only the first step in this direction, and there is almost no limit to the destructive power which will become available in the course of their future development. ![]() The development of atomic power will provide the nations with new means of destruction. A secret petition was sent to President Harry S. Well before the first test of a nuclear bomb, many scientists working on the Manhattan Project were concerned about such a future. On a dozen or so occasions since then, we have come within minutes of all-out nuclear war. The world still lives today under the threat of nuclear destruction. World politics explainer: The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The second world war was over, and the Cold War began. In August 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing up to 200,000 civilians. Unfortunately, society is less good at paying attention. Scientists are pretty good at warning of the dangers facing the planet. History shows such treaties are needed, and that they can work. A recent episode of 4 Corners reviewed this and many other risks posed by developments in AI.Īround 50 countries are meeting at the UN offices in Geneva this week in the latest attempt to hammer out a treaty to prevent the proliferation of these killer devices. The deadly drones were Turkish-made quadcopters about the size of a dinner plate, capable of delivering a warhead weighing a kilogram or so.Īrtificial intelligence researchers like me have been warning of the advent of such lethal autonomous weapons systems, which can make life-or-death decisions without human intervention, for years. Last year, according to a United Nations report published in March, Libyan government forces hunted down rebel forces using “lethal autonomous weapons systems” that were “programmed to attack targets without requiring data connectivity between the operator and the munition”. ![]()
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