Call for an International Ban on Autonomous Killer Robots

[McG]

Interesting.

Ban Urged on Killer Robots
The Globe and Mail
19 Nov 2012

Killer robots must be banned before they get loose on the battlefield, a rights group warned Monday, calling for an international treaty outlawing military weapons systems that decide – without a human “in the loop” – when to pull the trigger.

Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic call for all states to agree to ban the “development, production and use of fully autonomous weapons.” They also want robot designers to enact a “code of conduct” to keep the genie of killing machines with artificial intelligence in the bottle.

Already futuristic and near-autonomous weapons are deployed and firing. Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile defence system detects, tracks, targets and then – giving a human only a split second to approve or reject – shoots down incoming rockets. Similar systems protect U.S. warships – once armed, they don’t even ask permission to shoot. But their targets are incoming weapons not human combatants.

In South Korea, hulking robot sentries armed with rapid-fire guns and grenade launchers can detect an intruding human in the tense “demilitarized zone” up to two kilometres away. They too – for now – need a human triggerman, but only because the algorithm requires that the machine ask the man. Along the Israel-Gaza border, other armed robot sentries are also deployed. As yet, they still require human approval to open fire. “At least in the initial phases of deployment, we’re going to keep the man in the loop,” an Israeli commander told Defense News. Similarly, American Predator drones still need a human – albeit one far from the killing zone and often thousands of kilometres away – to launch the Hellfire missiles that routinely obliterate suspect jihadists.

But it’s the next stage, already on the drawing board and close to battlefield-ready, that Human Rights Watch wants banned. Those so-called killer robots, armed with lethal weapons and run by algorithms that – once unleashed – require no human “in the loop” should be banned before they are deployed, the group said.

“Action is needed now, before killer robots cross the line from science fiction to feasibility,” said Steve Goose, arms division director at Human Rights Watch.

In the first major public examination of the legal and ethical quandaries created by giving machines the ability to choose who lives and who dies on the battlefield, Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic call for an outright ban on fully autonomous weapons.

Such a ban would require a major new arms treaty. Killer robots would be the first class of weapons banned before first use. Other treaties, such as the one outlawing chemical weapons, enacted after the horrors of the First World War and the more recent – and limited – ban on land mines, came only after the weapons were used.

While ever-more sophisticated weapons technology seems inevitable, keeping a human “in the loop” is essential both for the decision to shoot and accountability for that decision, said Bonnie Docherty, lead author and primary researcher of the 50-page report.

“Fully autonomous weapons would never be able to comply with international humanitarian law and would undermine the protections for civilians,” she said in an interview. They would also, she added, “leave an accountability gap.” Who would face war-crimes charges if the robot gunned down innocent school children or killed surrendering combatants?

Some military analysts predict it will be decades before killer robots are sufficiently sophisticated to be battlefield ready. But other breakthrough technologies – such as stealth aircraft – were deployed before the Pentagon even acknowledged their existence.

However, some proponents of killer robots contend they can be safer than human combatants who suffer from stress and fear, and make mistakes under pressure.

John McGinnis, a Northwestern University Law professor, suggests that “artificial-intelligence robots on the battlefield may actually lead to less destruction, becoming a civilizing force in wars.”

While the report acknowledges that potential for decision-making by advanced artificial-intelligence weapons systems, it says “even if the development to fully autonomous weapons with human-like cognition becomes feasible, they would lack certain human qualities such as emotion, compassion and the ability to understand humans.”

See Article Here:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ban-urged-on-killer-robots/article5456209/

 

[brihard]

Yeah, I'll actually buy that. Removing the human from the loop entirely just gives me the heebie jeebies. Maybe I've seen too many movies where that's gone wrong...

 

[Infanteer]

They better be careful, or Skynet will send the T-1000 back to deal with them....

 

[Robert0288]

I can see them useful as an area denial system instead of a mine field.  Easier to mange, and deactivate afterwards.  And with a proper aiming algorithm you hopefully eliminate blowing things up you don't want hit.

Anything other than that.  Oh hell no.  I've seen Terminator.

 

[The_Falcon]

I guess we are learning from sci-fi movies.  Make sure we as humans stay in control.

 

[GK .Dundas]

Next up! an international ban on sharks with fricking lasers on their heads!
I have long felt that the only reason Canada championed The AP mine treaty was that a certain Cabinet minister wanted a certain award and a better paying job.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Next up! an international ban on sharks with fricking lasers on their heads!
I have long felt that the only reason Canada championed The AP mine treaty was that a certain Cabinet minister wanted a certain award and a better paying job.

The government of the day also had to fend of increasingly effective attacks from the left/NDP and BQ (there was no effective opposition from the right as the PCs and Reform were still deeply divided).

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

The Treaty has already been written:

Fully Autonomous Robots have to be made to follow the Three laws of Robotics (Isaac Asimov):

1- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2- A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

 

[FJAG]

The Treaty has already been written:

Fully Autonomous Robots have to be made to follow the Three laws of Robotics (Isaac Asimov):

1- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2- A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

I checked the ICRC website and no one has ratified this treaty yet. 

 

[Journeyman]

I checked the ICRC website and no one has ratified this treaty yet. 

Should have checked the IMDb website; Dr. Alfred Lanning had...but look what happened to him.

 

[OldSolduer]

Next up! an international ban on sharks with fricking lasers on their heads!

Aw now you are ruining ALL our fun! What's an evil genius to do? Next you will want to get rid of our unneccessarily complicated plans to kill off our nemesis!!!

 

[Haggis]

I'm not surprised that it only took two posts for a "Terminator" reference to pop up.

Asimov's "Three Laws" although written for a science fiction novel, are perfect in a world in which autononmous robots ("Autobots") are not used as weapons.  Neither the Autobots or Decepticons have ratified the Asimov laws, either.  ;D

 

[Remius]

Didn't Robocop have directives programmed into him?  I can see all sorts of things that makes this a plus.  Program robots with all the steps of battle procedure.  Program all the steps from SHARP training.  Perhaps all the defence ethics ethos.  Heck even range standing orders.  The potential is limitless...

 

[busconductor]

Our beloved among our kins inside the household, our "bitterest enemy in public places: The Political Left." Since time immemorial have they been acting as agents of influence for foreign communist countries. Not fomenting reading 'survival guides' here. "It's worse than Sodom"- God.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Our beloved among our kins inside the household, our "bitterest enemy in public places: The Political Left." Since time immemorial have they been acting as agents of influence for foreign communist countries. Not fomenting reading 'survival guides' here. "It's worse than Sodom"- God.

busconductor - less posting, more reading for you.

Milnet.ca Staff

 

[Scott]

Our beloved among our kins inside the household, our "bitterest enemy in public places: The Political Left." Since time immemorial have they been acting as agents of influence for foreign communist countries. Not fomenting reading 'survival guides' here. "It's worse than Sodom"- God.

I totally get you, dude. No need for you to patrol the arctic while trying to fornicate with polar bears if we gets them robots. Heck, they will be able to, like, download all of those mad skillz you possess.

Newfound respect: you talk to God, eh?

 

[Kat Stevens]

I approve wholeheartedly with this preemptive move.  I've been noticing some muttering and surly sideways looks from my JeevesBot 9000 lately, I believe he's plotting against me.

 

[GAP]

I totally get you, dude. No need for you to patrol the arctic while trying to fornicate with polar bears if we gets them robots. Heck, they will be able to, like, download all of those mad skillz you possess.

Newfound respect: you talk to God, eh?

You Scare Me!








You are soooo....right dude....how did you know??

 

[jollyjacktar]

Our beloved among our kins inside the household, our "bitterest enemy in public places: The Political Left." Since time immemorial have they been acting as agents of influence for foreign communist countries. Not fomenting reading 'survival guides' here. "It's worse than Sodom"- God.

100+ just for giving me a good laugh at your babble. 

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Autonomous Killer Robots have been with us for a long time - their called "suicide bombers."