Technology and Scientific Leaders Issue Warning Over 'Killer Robots' Al Jazeera
go to original July 31, 2015

A group of the world's leading scientists and tech exerts issued a stark warning about the use of autonomous weapons systems. CNN's Max Foster Reports. (CNN)

A group of leading technology and scientific leaders, including physicist Stephen Hawking and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, have issued a stern warning against the development of so-called killer robots.

Autonomous weapons, which use artificial intelligence to select targets without human intervention, have been described as "the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms", about 1,000 scientists, academics and entrepreneurs wrote in an open letter.

"The key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI [artificial intelligence] arms race or to prevent it from starting," they wrote on Tuesday.

"If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable."

The idea of an automated killing machine - made famous by films such as The Terminator - is moving swiftly from science fiction to reality, according to the scientists.

"The deployment of such systems is - practically if not legally - feasible within years, not decades," the letter said.

The scientists painted the doomsday scenario of autonomous weapons falling into the hands of terrorists, dictators or warlords hoping to carry out ethnic cleansing.

Read the rest at Al Jazeera

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