Automated killer robots ‘threat to humanity’:
Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP. “They pose a threat to humanity,” said University of Sheffield professor Noel Sharkey ahead of a keynote address Wednesday before Britain’s Royal United Services Institute.
[snip]
But even more worrisome, he continued, is the subtle progression from the semi-autonomous military robots deployed today to fully independent killing machines.
“I have worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies me,” Sharkey said.
No word yet on whether these new killer robots will be called “Decepticons”, or whether a rag-tag band of lovable “Autobots” will arise to battle them for the fate of humanity.
Laughing in the face of universal armageddon: the true vocation of bloggers.
We’re the plucky comic relief. The guy who’s always played by Joe Pesci.