Ban AI Weapons, Scientists Demand - InformationWeek

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Comments
Ban AI Weapons, Scientists Demand
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Broadway0474
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Broadway0474,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/31/2015 | 4:58:11 PM
Re: Treaties need to have teeth
Sure, a couple of Third World despots have been placed in jail by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. But it takes a long time and far more criminals fall through the cracks. And as for WWII, that was a unique situation brought about by TOTAL VICTORY in an all-out war. You rarely have the sort of conclusion, so rarely will you be able to stop war criminals so completely (and that was, after all, after the war criminals killed tens of millions of people, mind you).
kstaron
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kstaron,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/31/2015 | 9:10:31 AM
abuse of technology
I agree that if you are going to ban/regulate them it has to be an international agreement that some AI weapons are considered weapons of mass destruction and are considered war crimes. Not only would you have an arms race where fewer casualties happen on the side of the ones using AI, the ability for abuse of the technology would be staggering. (Not to mention the several bad sci-fi plots involving rouge AI running through my head.)
jries921
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jries921,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/31/2015 | 12:27:30 AM
Re: Treaties need to have teeth
I seem to recall that there are some people doing prison time for war crimes.  There would be more if they were prosecuted more aggressively, which is why I think it foolish to rely on international courts (let them be tried by whatever state catches them, just like pirates used to be).  Lots of WWII-era war criminals were literally hunted for the rest of their lives; that is exactly what needs to happen to their modern successors until they are brought to justice.
Broadway0474
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Broadway0474,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/30/2015 | 11:11:07 PM
Re: Treaties need to have teeth
The problem is that even such efforts to label weapons as war crimes --- gas and biological weapons, for instance --- doesn't stop them from being built, tested and then eventually used by "rogue nations."
jries921
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jries921,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/30/2015 | 12:19:00 PM
Treaties need to have teeth
If there is to be a serious effort to ban autonomous offensive weapons, then they not only need to be defined, but their use has to be classified as a war crime, punishible by any state that apprehends the perpetrators (no matter how long it takes).

Otherwise, as others have pointed out, international weapons bans become so difficult to enforce as to be meaningless.
driverlesssam
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driverlesssam,
 User Rank: Strategist
7/30/2015 | 11:05:18 AM
Too late to ban AI weapons
Its too late to ban AI weapons!  "Fire and Forget" weapons have long been used in war.  Maybe you think that an air-to-air missile seeking and destroying the hottest target it "sees" is not AI.  Well that's another argument to have someday, isn't it.

I have always liked Prof. Allen Perlis' definition of AI from the 1960's: "A system is intelligent if you think it is".
Susan Fourtané
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Susan Fourtané,
 User Rank: Author
7/29/2015 | 3:31:36 AM
Re: Blaming AI for human destructive behavior
Sunita, what solution do you propose? -Susan
Gary_EL
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Gary_EL,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/29/2015 | 1:03:35 AM
Re: The genie can't be put back into the bottle
I don't think building robots of war precludes building robots for peace. History suggests the opposite - war technology often gets used for peaceful purposes – look at semiconductors. A robot that can outthink a human is certainly possible, but despite the popular TV show, a human author cannot create a conscious being that is self-aware. The notion is silly. And, yes, since 1945, the major instigator of technological change worldwide has been the USA. But there's a new actor on stage – China. From now on, people need to disabuse themselves of the idea that if we don't do it, there won't be someone else who will.
SunitaT0
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SunitaT0,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/29/2015 | 12:41:46 AM
Re: The genie can't be put back into the bottle
@gary: true. The Chinese government is strong and they have had different weapons testing through the years. I think they are a cold threat to other countries.
SunitaT0
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50%
SunitaT0,
 User Rank: Ninja
7/29/2015 | 12:39:42 AM
Re: The genie can't be put back into the bottle
Maybe people should make robots to solve problems like handicap and population explosion among other things. They should make robots to build colonies on different habitable planets and moons of the solar system. They should make robots to facilitate space exploration.
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