When discussing artificial intelligence, traditionally remember the three laws of robotics, formulated by the American writer of Russian origin Isaac Asimov. Everyone knows that a robot cannot harm a person with its action or inaction, but not many remember that Asimov first revealed his laws to the public in the story "Round Dance", published in 1942.
Over the past seventy-odd years, robotics has moved from the realm of fantasy to the category of quite real things. Robots work in factories, study Mars, start working in clinics and schools, and infiltrate museums. True, all these robots are not yet aware that special laws have been developed for them, and in general they are not particularly fond of the fantasy of the middle of the last century.
Photo: avtom1.ru
Robots have not yet reached such a level of intelligence as to deliberately harm humans. Actually, it is still difficult to talk about the intentional actions of robots. However, if a robot screwing nuts on a conveyor does not even know how to start thinking about whether it is possible to harm a person, then there is a certain ethical problem with combat robots.
Creating combat robots that cannot harm humans is a doomed job. A war machine is exactly what is needed to inflict damage on the enemy. But would it be wise to train robots not only to kill people, but also to determine who lives and who does not?
The Pentagon thinks yes!
To be precise, the US Defense Science Council analyzed the data at its disposal and ruled that the development in the United States of combat robots capable of shooting at humans is a useful and necessary business.
Promotional video:
The report, prepared by Professor David Root and retired Major General Paul Nielsen, says the US Department of Defense needs to accelerate work towards creating robots capable of independent combat. Naturally, this is not so much about the creation of humanoid robots, but about giving the freedom of choice of targets and the moment of attack for drones.
The authors of the report believe that modern computing capabilities of computers are already superior to human ones, which means that the creation of combat robots is only a matter of time. And if America does not want to be lagging behind, then it is time to act now. ISIS's recent use of chemical weapons is cited as an argument. Say, if terrorists today use one prohibited weapon, then who will prevent them tomorrow from using another. Combat robots, for example.
Not so long ago, our site has already written about the success of the American flight simulator, which defeated a retired pilot in a training air battle. Apparently, this event initiated further research on the idea of a killer robot. It is not known whether this program will become just another tick that sticks to the US military budget, or the undertaking will be brought to mind, but anyone who has watched James Cameron's feature films clearly has bad premonitions. Everything there also began with combat drones.
Grigory Romanovich Azhdanin