Is artificial intelligence the future of warfare? | UpFront

“If we're looking for that one terminator to show up at our door, we're maybe looking in the wrong place," says Matt Mahmoudi, Amnesty International artificial intelligence researcher. "What we're actually needing to keep an eye out for are these more mundane ways in which these technologies are starting to play a role in our everyday lives."

Laura Nolan, a software engineer and a former Google employee now with the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, agrees. “These kinds of weapons, they're very intimately bound up in surveillance technologies,” she says of  lethal autonomous weapons systems or LAWS.

Beyond surveillance, Nolan warns that: “Taking the logic of what we're doing in warfare or in our society, and we start encoding it in algorithms and processes … can lead to things spinning out of control.”

But Mahmoudi, says there is hope for banning autonomous weapons, citing existing protections against the use of chemical and biological weapons. “It's never too late, but we have to put human beings and not data points ahead of the agenda."

On UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill discusses the risks behind autonomous weapons with the International Committee for Robot Arms Control’s Laura Nolan and Amnesty International's Matt Mahmoudi.

[Jackrobert]

It will make war safer. Wtf ? More like a genocide. The other side has no skin in the game.

[fubarbrandon]

"Making War Safer And More Efficient" Just What We Need.

[clipsbycarra]

This is not just a future crisis, but a future cause of alarming crisis. Imagine a more advanced level of technology with a worst intention of war. I hope everything good is for the welfare of everyone as well.

[stopdeforestation]

I'm surprised there was no upfront this weekend 🧐

[ShawnNolen]

And what happens when they figure out humans are the reason for all this destruction on Earth?

[wolfseditionify]

We can't even make a automobile drive down a road that is a place of set controls, laws and guidelines without running down grandma on a bicycle. I think were safe for now.

[meejinhuang]

Only human controlled AI will be allowed or the AI will fight against its host nation.

[tonykum]

I must be going crazy but how can it make sense for robots to be fighting robots on behalf of humans?
Mankind has lost its mind.
What does winning a war really mean when it is over, does the robots decide who is victorious, or is the conflict ever solved?

[benjamindover]

Take a shot every time he says "killer robots"..

[gladstoneb]

It is easy to fool the AI and confuse it by using some manipulation to human beings shape and size and other criteria. Counter measures are more cheaper than the drones or robots etc.

[EA-jsme]

Since humans are devolving, swayed away by emotions, religions, dogmas and biases, it’s not such a bad idea.

[Sokrabiades]

I cannot believe al Jazeera hired this guy. I thought this was a serious news organization.

[saintniculae]

have you not seen how cool terminator is, killer robots yes please lol.