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Secret Pentagon AI Program Hunts Hidden Nuclear Missiles (reuters.com)
Slashdot reader drdread66 shares this article from Reuters:
The U.S. military is increasing spending on a secret research effort to use artificial intelligence to help anticipate the launch of a nuclear-capable missile, as well as track and target mobile launchers in North Korea and elsewhere. The effort has gone largely unreported, and the few publicly available details about it are buried under a layer of near impenetrable jargon in the latest Pentagon budget. But U.S. officials familiar with the research told Reuters there are multiple classified programs now under way to explore how to develop AI-driven systems to better protect the United States against a potential nuclear missile strike.
If the research is successful, such computer systems would be able to think for themselves, scouring huge amounts of data, including satellite imagery, with a speed and accuracy beyond the capability of humans, to look for signs of preparations for a missile launch, according to more than half a dozen sources. The sources included U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the research is classified. Forewarned, the U.S. government would be able to pursue diplomatic options or, in the case of an imminent attack, the military would have more time to try to destroy the missiles before they were launched, or try to intercept them.
Reuters calls it "one indicator of the growing importance of the research on AI-powered anti-missile systems," adding "The Pentagon is in a race against China and Russia to infuse more AI into its war machine, to create more sophisticated autonomous systems that are able to learn by themselves to carry out specific tasks."
One official told Reuters that an AI prototype for tracking missile launchers is already being tested.
If the research is successful, such computer systems would be able to think for themselves, scouring huge amounts of data, including satellite imagery, with a speed and accuracy beyond the capability of humans, to look for signs of preparations for a missile launch, according to more than half a dozen sources. The sources included U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the research is classified. Forewarned, the U.S. government would be able to pursue diplomatic options or, in the case of an imminent attack, the military would have more time to try to destroy the missiles before they were launched, or try to intercept them.
Reuters calls it "one indicator of the growing importance of the research on AI-powered anti-missile systems," adding "The Pentagon is in a race against China and Russia to infuse more AI into its war machine, to create more sophisticated autonomous systems that are able to learn by themselves to carry out specific tasks."
One official told Reuters that an AI prototype for tracking missile launchers is already being tested.
Didnâ(TM)t SkyNet start out like this??
They made a movie a long time ago that explored what could happen if the AI controlling the US missiles took the initiative to directly talk to the AI controlling the Russian missiles. (Hint: it didn't turn out well for those pesky humans.)
It begins
AI or just a computer program that analyzes spy photos? AI has become too much of a hollow buzzword.
you lost me when you reported this story.
The Forbin Project
Get off muh lawn.
...Nuclear Wessels?
We'll make great pets
I have to state the obvious...
Don't forget that the great devil will kill you!
It must have some ways to stop him!
The Holy Bible and Jesus could help us to solve it.
Colossus, headed by Dr. Charles Forbin. It's rumored that the Russians are working on a similiar project.
Reminds me of a movie from back in the day. It was a real whopper. Or should I say WOPR?
and then blame the computer for the mistake. This is all I read.
Such a system seems unreliable,compared to plain old spying with human agents reporting about what is going on in other states.
No. Not at all. Not even one bit. Actually thinking machines are at the very least 50 years in the future, probably much longer and may also be completely impossible. Stop propagating such utter nonsense. All we have today is "weak AI" which is properly just called "automation". It has no intelligence, it has no concept of anything, it has no understanding of anything and it most certainly cannot think.
Also, does anybody remember the stupid pattern recognizers (also called "AI" by the clueless) that got fooled by subtle changes to traffic signs? I most definitely do not want something like that in systems that have a part in the decision about a nuclear strike. "Oops, sorry, we nuked you because our training data was faulty."
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I read interesting article about soviet union experiments about high altitude nuclear explosions tests, so the result of them demonstrated that in case of massive attack the first explosion eliminates all radar systems and they become virtually blind, so the only way to intercept missiles is to attack them simultaneously what is virtually impossible. That is why Ronald Reigan's SDI assume use of heavy lasers, since it is only possibility to eliminate all warheads simultaneously in space, otherwise the first exploded warhead blinds all radar systems and eliminates all electronics.
It does not matter where this first explosion happens above launch site or above target site, only the first missile is gonna be destroyed, all others will go through radar defenses. So all that crap we read about anti-missile rockets can help only help against random individual terrorists attack, but can nothing to do against fully nuclear capable state.
So what ever we read about anti-missile rockets, it is just marketing justifying budget spending. The only answer is further arsenals reduction and control of proliferation.
AI isn't something that is aware of itself as many have already pointed out. It is something to be very wary of however. Very quickly we are going to witness this tool being misused all over the spectrum for nefarious purposes, especially by governments who have the money to fund it in various separate chunks. When they put it all together, we won't see it anymore. Hardly anyone will be aware of how much it will change their lives and everyone around them. Yes, it is a tool. It is a very very scary tool.
...or recursive AI: an AI to see through "details [about secret Pentagon AI programs] buried under a layer of near impenetrable jargon in [...] Pentagon budget[s]".
Perhaps the Chinese have them? Or the (now jobless) Internet Research Agency?
"Professor Charles Forbin, a leading cybernetics expert of international repute, arrives at the White House to brief the President of the United States of North America (Canada and the United States are one country, the USNA) to announce the completion of Project Colossus, a computer system in the Rocky Mountains, designed to assume control of the USNA's nuclear defences. Although the USNA President eagerly relieves himself of that burden, Prof. Forbin voices doubt about conferring absolute military power to a computer. Advised, yet undeterred, the President announces to the world the activation of the Project Colossus computer system, and its irreversible control of the nuclear defence systems of the USNA." - from a Wikipedia synopsis of "Colossus," a "Sifi?" story from 1966 by D.F. Jones
So, the desire has always been there as illustrated here; it merely had to wait for the technology. Desire often overcomes reality. Read it.
E Proelio Veritas.
WOPR has been tasked. Keep moving forward to the next series of events / conclusions.
This is a defensive technology. In the interests of preserving peace throughout the world, this project should be developed with open research so that every country can have the ability to defend themselves against nuclear weapons.
This just proves that the United States still wants to be in the position to use nuclear weapons on others, while defending themselves against those who would do the same. Makes me sick.
Any country that fired a nuclear tipped missile would be painting a target on it's own forehead. Everybody would know who launched it and would retaliate. A much more likeky delivery method, would be to pack the warehead in a container and ship it to a US port where it would detonate during unloading and before it could be scanned for radiation. In the aftermath it would likely be impossable to determine from the hole in the ground which container ship had exploded let alone which container on that ship. Even if analysing the fallout could suggest where the fuel was produced, there would be plausable deniability to delay/deflect retaliation.
You live and learn, or you don't learn much.
Israel has a HUGE arsenal of nuclear weapons that they refuse to declare to the world, despite being exposed by Mordechai Vanunu in the 1980's.
Maybe AI will shine a light on the apartheid state's secret nuclear program.