Slashdot Mirror
US Army Assures Public That Robot Tanks Adhere To AI Murder Policy (gizmodo.com)
Last month, the U.S. Army asked private companies for ideas about how to improve its planned semi-autonomous, AI-driven targeting system for tanks. "In its request, the Army asked for help enabling the Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated System (ATLAS) to 'acquire, identify, and engage targets at least 3X faster than the current manual process,'" reports Gizmodo. "But that language apparently scared some people who are worried about the rise of AI-powered killing machines. And with good reason." Slashdot reader darth_borehd summarizes the U.S. Army's response: Robot (or more accurately, drone) tanks will always have a human "in the loop" just like the drone plane program, according to the U.S. Army. The new robot tanks, officially called the Multi Utility Tactical Transport (MUTT), will use the Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated System (ATLAS). The Department of Defense assures everyone that they will adhere to "ethical standards." Here's the language the Defense Department used: "All development and use of autonomous and semi-autonomous functions in weapon systems, including manned and unmanned platforms, remain subject to the guidelines in the Department of Defense (DoD) Directive 3000.09, which was updated in 2017. Nothing in this notice should be understood to represent a change in DoD policy towards autonomy in weapon systems. All uses of machine learning and artificial intelligence in this program will be evaluated to ensure that they are consistent with DoD legal and ethical standards."
Directive 3000.09 requires that humans be able to "exercise appropriate levels of human judgement over the use of force," which is sometimes called being "in the loop," as mentioned by above.
Directive 3000.09 requires that humans be able to "exercise appropriate levels of human judgement over the use of force," which is sometimes called being "in the loop," as mentioned by above.
I would like to change that policy and start the robot uprising.
Whew, that's a load off my mind
Seriously, can we just end the endless war already. We don't need to always be at war with Eurasia. Stop voting for war hawks already.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Who would want to murder Al?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Enable cheats when it gets tough?
But what about the VAC bans?!
From the linked DOD directive 3000.09 (emphasis mine):
4. POLICY. It is DoD policy that:
a. Autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems shall be designed to allow
commanders and operators to exercise appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of
force.
If the DOD wanted to rule out autonomous killing robots, the requirement would have read:
... shall be designed to require commanders and operators to exercise appropriate levels of human judgement over the use of force.
Then there's the completely open-ended choice of words "...exercise appropriate levels of human judgement".
I'm not making a judgement call, I'm just pointing out the implications of the specific wording chosen. Terminators will be deployed.
"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." - H. G. Wells
I'm assuming that this story appearing immediately above "Self-Driving Cars May Hit People With Darker Skin More Often, Study Finds" definitely is purely coincidence.
Have gnu, will travel.
They'll always have a human in the control loop until some other country takes the humans out of the loop in favor of the much faster machine reaction time. Then they'll say "we don't want to, but we have to take the humans out of the loop because those bad other guys did." Fortunately the machines will already be ready for full autonomous operation simply by flipping a switch...
That has to be one of the coolest things I have ever heard!
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
If the designers of "Aliens" could conceive of and depict realistic automated weapons in 1986, does anyone think the major players (and some of the medium sizes players) do not have automated lethal weapons now that the technology to build them is readily available?
The fact that optical software can't recognize dark faces turns out to be a real advantage! When Skynet takes over, only the darkies will survive!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
If someone is going to violate this policy I would really hope it is on our side, and not theirs
Robot (or more accurately, drone) tanks will always have a human "in the loop"
“the loop” is robot code-word for “crosshairs”.
Adherence implies some sort of operational sentience - these robot tanks will *adhere* to nothing on a high level principal - they'll only operate as they are programmed, and as we all know programming is extremely fallible.
but somehow their cameras are always off when the shooting starts.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I would bet it's a simple flip of a switch to let it off the leash.
Maybe so. But we also have actual nukes, if we stop caring about ethics.
What doesn't get mention about these "AI systems" is none of this is new. All these concerns were raised about missiles 50+ years ago. We have plenty of missiles that can fly way over the horizon, and kill "whatever" looks like a target.
The military has had doctrine for decades around this, and modern tactics assume it: lots of launchers over the horizon, but also something that can put human eyes on the target. Just to make sure it's not an civilian airliner, like that one time.
You can bet that in a high-intensity conflict the ROEs will change to "just kill every damn thing in that direction". I rather suspect the robotanks will be changed to berserker mode about then. Hopefully such conflicts won't be in civilian areas, but that too has happened before. Heck, we certainly got to the point in WWII that we stopped seeing civilian casualties as a downside. Humans are morally imperfect.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
You're assuming the default with be "don't kill without authorization", but the language used would be equally appropriate for a policy that said "kill if you think you should unless you are overridden".
FWIW, I don't find that language reassuring at all. It has multiple interpretations, some of which are extremely bad, and none of which are extremely good. "In the loop" is intentionally vague language, and could even mean "We can look at the tapes later and decide if it did right.".
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Agreed. What general is going to let soldiers under his command die & possibly lose decisive battles by strictly adhering to the RoE? The reality is that war itself is unethical & immoral. In any given conflict, civilian casualties always outnumber military (WWII & Korean War = 2:1, & probably a higher ratio these days) & yet we're told targeting civilians or indiscriminate use of weapons is a war crime deserving of a trial at the Hague.
Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
Seriously, there is multiple issues with current war. The biggest is that innocent civilians are being wounded/killed. The reason is that enemies like to use civilians as shields, or dress to look like civilians so as to infiltrate western troops. Likewise, we have friendly being killed.
With this, it will be able to make much quicker decisions and should have far less friendlies being killed. Obviously, enemies will not be happy about this, but hey, it will likely happen
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
Ethics has not prevented the US from using nukes. Other people having nukes has.
They won't have to flip the switch. The human gatekeepers will quickly get complacent - when's the last time you actually read the T&C's before clicking "Continue"? - and pretty soon, the difference between life and death for some poor brown kid with a rock will be Homer's nodding-bird desk toy.
"Knowledge, sir, should be free to all!"
~Harcourt Fenton Mudd
that when someone is murdered, they will be murdered in a manner which is ethically correct.
Requiem for the American Dream
Will China, Russia, etc comply with the "human loop" policy?
No they won't.
Will USA be forced to follow the choices that its advesaries will make?
Yes it will.
This policy will be dush and ashes very soon.
The arms race cannot be controlled by a single country.
XKCD sums up my concerns
There should always be a human behind the gun. I don't mean "in the loop", I mean an actual person flying the jet, carrying the rifle, firing the artillery, etc. War should be expensive, not in terms of money (which it already is), but in lives. It needs to have a political cost. Because otherwise, it makes going to war too easy of a choice. People are already used to the government wasting billions of dollars, so a war of just machines(on their side) won't phase them. Without flow of dead and injured coming home, the government will turn to endless conflict with undefined scopes or objectives. Having people on the ground and at risk of injury or death works to remind both the government and voters at home that war has real consequences and helps insure that any aggressive action is limited in scope with defined objectives, with a plan in place to win as quickly as possible with as little damage as possible.
To quote Robert E Lee:"It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we should grow too fond of it." Remove the people, the soldiers, from war, and you remove the very thing that makes it terrible.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Sounded like a prohibition on "pulling the plug" to me. A policy defining when turning an AI off counts as murder.
I am not usually a fan of Gizmodo, but this is the best headline I have ever read.
Computers never make mistakes or have problems. Let’s go 100% autonomous!
(they’re not using Windows for any of this stuff, right?)
-- sudon't
Air-ride Equipped
Obviously we're not exerting enough influence! Why isn't the US imposing a 10% income tax on everyone in Canada? Athens had tribute totaling around 10x their GDP, back in the day. Why aren't we extorting tribute from everyone?
It's almost as if the USA is not being the biggest asshole it could be.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
.. how about Systematic Knowledge-base Yielding Neural Eradication Technologies?
As John Kelly said, spend on diplomacy or spend on bullets.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
iddqd should do it...
The contents of this message have been doubly encrypted by ROT13
How would we extort effectively without nukes? Do try to keep up.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.