Academics warn killer robots will leave humans ‘utterly defenceless’

A LEADING academic has backed up claims by the likes of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, saying that killer robots are a real danger to humanity.

MARVEL'S AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON - 2015 FILM STILL - Ultron (voiced by James Spader) - Photo Credit: Marvel ©Marvel 2015

AN ACADEMIC from California has warned that killer robots currently being developed by the United States military will leave humans “utterly defenceless”.

There are currently two programs being commissioned by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that are attempting to create drones that can track and kill targets without any human intervention.

“Autonomous weapons systems select and engage targets without human intervention; they become lethal when those targets include humans,” professor Stuart Russell wrote in the journal Nature.

“Existing AI and robotics components can provide physical platforms, perception, motor control, navigation, mapping, tactical decision-making and long-term planning. They just need to be combined.

“In my view, the overriding concern should be the probable endpoint of this technological trajectory.

“Despite the limits imposed by physics, one can expect platforms deployed in the millions, the agility and lethality of which will leave humans utterly defenceless. This is not a desirable future.”

The robots themselves are called lethal autonomous weapon systems or, if you want them to sound even more bad arse, LAWS. They’re expected to be armed quadcopters or mini-tanks that uses an artificial intelligence to determine whether or not to kill someone.

Professor Russell said: “LAWS could violate fundamental principles of human dignity by allowing machines to choose whom to kill — for example, they might be tasked to eliminate anyone exhibiting ‘threatening behaviour’

“Debates should be organised at scientific meetings; arguments studied by ethics committees. Doing nothing is a vote in favour of continued development and deployment.”

Elon Musk is well known to share similar fears with killer robots and artificial intelligence, famously saying, “Summoning the demon” of self-learning artificial intelligence would be “potentially more dangerous than nukes”.