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Killer Robots Will Only Exist If We Are Stupid Enough To Let Them (theguardian.com)
Heritype quotes the Guardian's science correspondent:
The idea of killer robots rising up and destroying humans is a Hollywood fantasy and a distraction from the more pressing dilemmas that intelligent machines present to society, according to one of Britain's most influential computer scientists. Sir Nigel Shadbolt, professor of computer science at the University of Oxford, predicts that AI will bring overwhelming benefits to humanity, revolutionising cancer diagnosis and treatment, and transforming education and the workplace. If problems arise, he said, it will not be because sentient machines have unexpectedly gone rogue in a Terminator-like scenario.
"The danger is clearly not that robots will decide to put us away and have a robot revolution," he said. "If there [are] killer robots, it will be because we've been stupid enough to give it the instructions or software for it to do that without having a human in the loop deciding...."
However, Prof Shadbolt is optimistic about the social and economic impact of emerging technologies such as machine learning, in which computer programmes learn tasks by looking for patterns in huge datasets. "I don't see it destroying jobs grim reaper style," he said. "People are really inventive at creating new things for humans to do for which will pay them a wage. Leisure, travel, social care, cultural heritage, even reality TV shows. People want people around them and interacting with them."
"The danger is clearly not that robots will decide to put us away and have a robot revolution," he said. "If there [are] killer robots, it will be because we've been stupid enough to give it the instructions or software for it to do that without having a human in the loop deciding...."
However, Prof Shadbolt is optimistic about the social and economic impact of emerging technologies such as machine learning, in which computer programmes learn tasks by looking for patterns in huge datasets. "I don't see it destroying jobs grim reaper style," he said. "People are really inventive at creating new things for humans to do for which will pay them a wage. Leisure, travel, social care, cultural heritage, even reality TV shows. People want people around them and interacting with them."
It's 2018. We've broken through the "stupid enough" barrier.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Speak for yourself, you insensitive clod!
I'm just lazy and careless.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
People won't make or deploy killer robots "by accident". If a robot goes on a killing spree, it will be because somebody deliberately programmed it to go on a killing spree.
Are people perverse enough to make a machine that will deliberately kill other people, either based on specific entry-conditions or even just randomly? The existence and widespread use of land mines and car bombs demonstrates that the answer is yes.
So really we know the answer; we're only arguing about an implementation detail: exactly how sophisticated people will allow their automated killing machines' triggering-mechanisms to be.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
It takes only one guy with the right capabilities and stupid enough to do it. History has proven that there are plenty of such people. You can be sure that there are plenty of high level military officers in many countries that are day dreaming of something from Screamers, and will do anything that is in their power to make it a reality...
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