Stephen Hawking opens fire on robot soldier

Hawking and several other leading figures warn against wars in which robots shots.

In an open letter - presented at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence - speak Hawking and many other scientists and public figures as Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak out openly against what they called "autonomous weapons" call. Underneath she understood weapons selecting targets independently and attacks. "These include eg armed quadcopters that people can detect and eliminate," as can be read in the letter. "The technology behind Artificial Intelligence has reached the point where the use of such systems within a few years - not decades - is possible, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons are seen as the third revolution in warfare: after gunpowder and nuclear weapons. "

"AUTONOMOUS WEAPONS ARE SEEN AS THE THIRD REVOLUTION IN WARFARE: AFTER GUNPOWDER AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS"

Arms race:

In the letter - which can still be signed - the fact that an arms race including a starring can begin in the short term for autonomous weapons. But is it desirable? The authors suggest not. "Unlike nuclear weapons autonomous weapons are expensive or difficult to obtain needed raw materials, so they will pop up everywhere and very cheap can be produced on a large scale. It is only a matter of time before they hit the black market and into the hands of terrorists, dictators who want to control their population, warlords who want to implement ethnic cleansing, and so on, emerge. Autonomous weapons are ideal for tasks such executions, the overthrow of nations, suppressing populations and selective killing of a particular ethnic group. We therefore believe that an arms race is bad for humanity. "

The benefits of AI:

Artificial Intelligence Should we then just completely renounce? Absolutely not, argue the authors and signatories. "There are many ways in which artificial intelligence war zones can make it safer for people - especially civilians -.  new tools are created to kill people" Furthermore, the researchers emphasize that there is no reason to scientists engaged in artificial intelligence mistrustful to be seen. "Just as physicists and biologists have no interest in making chemical or biological weapons, most AI researchers have no interest in building AI weapons and they do not want others to their research field with such research dirtying and the public against artificial intelligence set up. "

"JUST AS PHYSICISTS AND BIOLOGISTS HAVE NO INTEREST IN MAKING CHEMICAL OR BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS, MOST AI RESEARCHERS HAVE NO INTEREST IN BUILDING AI WEAPONS"

The conclusion:

"In summary, we believe that artificial intelligence great benefits in multiple ways 

may have for humanity and that this is also the aim of the research field needs to be. Starting an arms race that revolves around AI weapons is a bad idea and should be prevented by an alliance of autonomous offensive weapons which are not under the control of men. "