Related Stories
Elon Musk leads 116 experts calling for outright ban of killer robots
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
Posted: September 19th, 2017
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/20/elon-musk...
Some of the worlds leading robotics and artificial intelligence pioneers are calling on the United Nations to ban the development and use of killer robots. Teslas Elon Musk and Alphabets Mustafa Suleyman are leading a group of 116 specialists from across 26 countries who are calling for the ban on autonomous weapons. The UN recently voted to begin formal discussions on such weapons which include drones, tanks and automated machine guns. Ahead of this, the group of founders of AI and robotics companies have sent an open letter to the UN calling for it to prevent the arms race that is currently under way for killer robots. In their letter, the founders warn the review conference ... that this arms race threatens to usher in the third revolution in warfare after gunpowder and nuclear arms. The founders wrote: Once developed, lethal autonomous weapons will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend. The founders call for morally wrong lethal autonomous weapons systems to be added to the list of weapons banned under the UNs convention on certain conventional weapons (CCW) brought into force in 1983, which includes chemical and intentionally blinding laser weapons. Musk ... has repeatedly warned for the need for pro-active regulation of AI, calling it humanitys biggest existential threat. While the suggestion of killer robots conjures images from science fiction ... lethal autonomous weapons are already in use.
Note: Despite Gen. Paul Selva's recent warning against putting "robots in charge of whether or not we take a human life," the US is among several countries currently moving forward with automating warfare. A 2013 report for the U.N. Human Rights Commission called for a worldwide moratorium on the testing, production, assembly, transfer, acquisition, deployment and use of killer robots until an international conference can develop rules for their use. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing war news articles from reliable major media sources.
Related Stories
Latest News
Key News Articles from Years Past
