The US Army has taken another step towards developing automated weapons systems. The US military turned to leading specialists in the development of artificial intelligence technologies with a proposal to take part in the creation of new types of ground combat equipment, for example, tanks, which will have the ability to automatically identify, conduct and defeat a potential enemy using AI technologies for this. This is reported by the online edition Quartz.
Developed within the framework of the new Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated Systems (ATLAS) project, artificial intelligence technologies and algorithms will give combat vehicles almost complete control over the preparation and defeat of a potential enemy. However, the right to command the destruction of the enemy (according to American law) will remain with the operators of such combat units, the source said.
According to available data, there are currently several hundred different types of semi-automatic and fully automatic air defense systems in use around the world. According to an expert in the field of protection technologies in the field of national security Paul Sharre, who was contacted for comments by the publication Quartz, the ATLAS project is intended to be the first stage in the use of such autonomous weapons systems as part of ground combat equipment.
According to the expert, such systems will allow "operators of combat vehicles to maximize their free time to make a final decision and at the same time minimize the time to prepare for the start of firing." In addition, the expert believes that the introduction and use of almost fully automated military equipment will reduce the number of civilian casualties, cases of fire on their own and other unintended consequences. It could also improve the safety of soldiers on the battlefield, Scharre said.
Not everyone likes this perspective
Last year, a group of 116 experts from 26 countries appealed to the UN to ban the development and proliferation of autonomous weapons. Among the authors of the appeal are SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and the founder of an artificial intelligence company, DeepMind, Mustafa Suleiman.
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The authors of the report drew attention to the UN Convention on Conventional Arms and warned that a new arms race would threaten the world with a third revolution in this area, comparable to the invention of gunpowder and nuclear weapons. The document stressed that "if the Pandora's box is opened, it will be extremely difficult to close it."
Russia is ready to support the proposal to adopt in the UN a declaration on the importance of maintaining human control over autonomous weapons systems, but is categorically opposed to the introduction of legally binding restrictions in this area.
Nikolay Khizhnyak
