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Pentagon Chiefs Fear Advanced Robot Weapons Wiping Out Humanity (mirror.co.uk)

Longtime reader schwit1 writes: Huge technological leaps forward in drones, artificial intelligence and autonomous weapon systems must be addressed before humanity is driven to extinction, say chiefs of Pentagon
From a report: Air Force General Paul Selva, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the US Defense Department, said so-called thinking weapons could lead to: "Robotic systems to do lethal harm... a Terminator without a conscience." When asked about robotic weapons able to make their own decisions, he said: "Our job is to defeat the enemy" but "it is governed by law and by convention." He says the military insists on keeping humans in the decision-making process to "inflict violence on the enemy. [...] That ethical boundary is the one we've draw a pretty fine line on. It's one we must consider in developing these new weapons," he added. Selva said the Pentagon must reach out to artificial intelligence tech firms that are not necessarily "military-oriented" to develop new systems of command and leadership models, reports US Naval Institute News .

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  1. Re: Asimov was prescient by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Autonomous systems that don't kill are a threat to humanity. They're already causing widespread misery due to rampant unemployment and only "futurist" twerps with no skills of their own and massive delusions that somehow everything will be handed to them in a world with no jobs think this is a good thing. Them, and the silicon valley sociopaths who build this stuff.

    Tech people need to start assuming responsibility for what we do. We've somehow been magically insulated from the consequences of some downright evil things we've built, and that won't last forever. Yeah, I know the "tools aren't evil" argument, but when you build tech that has the purpose of making peoples' lives worse, or ending them, what else would you call it?