World powers in rush to get killer robots on battlefield in AI arms race, as concerns grow they can turn on humans

nypost.com:

terrifying new AI weaponry, a new documentary exploring the future of artificial intelligence in battle reveals.“World leaders in Russia and China, people in the US military have said, whoever gets the advantage in AI is going to have an overwhelming technical advantage in war,” Jesse Sweet, director of “UNKNOWN: Killer Robots, premiering Monday on Netflix, told The Post.“This revolution is happening now, but I think our awareness [is] lagging behind,” Sweet, an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and producer, warned. “Hopefully, it doesn’t think a mushroom cloud to make us realize, ‘Oh man, this is a pretty potent tool.'”Weapons-grade robots and drones being utilized in combat isn’t new, the documentary shows.

But AI software is, and it’s enhancing — in some cases, to the extreme — the existing hardware, which has been modernizing warfare for the better part of a decade.

Now, experts say, developments in AI have pushed us to a point where global forces now have no choice but to rethink military strategy — from the ground up.“It’s realistic to expect that AI will be piloting an F-16 and will not be that far out,” Nathan Michael, Chief Technology Officer of Shield AI, a company whose mission is “building the world’s best AI pilot,” says in the episode.However, the filmmakers express concern — like many working in the field of AI — over rapid robotic militarization, essentially warning that we don’t truly comprehend what we’re creating.“The way these algorithms are processing information, the people who programmed them can’t even fully understand the decisions they’re making,” Sweet said.