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Comment by joe_the_user | Hacker News Reader

He's talking mostly about military technology. I'd agree that killer-robots would be horrible - for the potential to make military action easier, to make it even easier for a single mad man launch a war and so-forth.

I don't think "real" military AI is that close because things on the battle-field have to be robust and current AI seems to be inherently fragile - not always reliable and less reliable in chaotic situations.

But semi-military applications like deciding who a drone will kill have potential ... to do even more harm than drones have already done.

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> I don't think "real" military AI is that close because things on the battle-field have to be robust and current AI seems to be inherently fragile - not always reliable and less reliable in chaotic situations.

Do you think the military contractors pushing their military AI solutions care about that? Do the people approving those solutions (usually those in Congress that assign the budgets) know enough to make the distinction between "highly effective AI" and "poor/broken AI that won't achieve its promised objectives during battle"? Do they even care, or do they care more about their campaign donations?

The CIA and NSA have already used awfully inaccurate algorithms to send drones to kill "targets" (like people who they thought used a certain phone number). Why do you think it will be any different with AI killer robots?

The algorithms will likely be just as inaccurate based on the biased/flawed data the AI will be fed, but the damage (civilian casualties) will be multiplied 10-100x due to how much easier/cheaper it will be to create and operate AI killer robots.

That semi-military approach is already happening https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-lay-scientist/2016/f...

Is that drone carrying out kills w no humans in the loop?

No but if the humans in the loop trust the algorithm so much, they're more like executive agents of the algorithm than the ones making the decisions.

Just because you don't automate the step of actually launching the missile doesn't mean a machine can't be the originator of the order.

No. Predator / Reaper drones are remotely piloted via satcoms link by a crew of two or three, typically pilot / sensor/ weapon operator. They are not autonomous with the exception of auto-pilot functions. The crew are typically embedded in a larger HQ where there may be political / legal cells to advise.

If the target list is wrong it won’t help the targets but the human in the loop may help to avoid blowing up a school accidentally, depending on the amount of collateral damage that can be accepted for a given target.

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