The Pentagon faces a "Terminator conundrum" as the development of autonomous weapons — able to identify targets and make decisions independently — has become a defense strategy for the United States, according to The New York Times.
In August, Jacob Regenstein, an engineer, participated in a test on an autonomous drone while holding a fake rifle. The small drone was able to identify Regenstein on its own.
Nearly two months later, the drone, with its six whirring rotors, is identifying more than just one target on its own. According to The Times, during another test, the drone zeroed in on a mosque-like structure and scanned the area for targets while flying above a replica of a Middle Eastern village at Camp Edwards in Massachusetts.
Instead of having a human control the drone remotely, it was armed with artificial intelligence software.
The engineers who tested the drone watched all of this transpire on a video feed that was used to monitor the test. The video showed green and purple rectangles around the men walking the Camp Edwards testing range.
This new software is expected to keep the U.S. as the superior among rivals like China and Russia who are also putting their money into new research for their own military strategies, The Times noted.
"China and Russia are developing battle networks that are as good as our own. They can see as far as ours can see; they can throw guided munitions as far as we can," said Robert O. Work, the deputy defense secretary, who has been a key player in the development of autonomous weapons. "What we want to do is just make sure that we would be able to win as quickly as we have been able to do in the past."
According to The Times, the Pentagon plans to spend $18 billion over the course of the next three years on advanced technologies that include software needed for autonomous weapons.
This comes just a couple of months after the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called these autonomous weapons “thinking weapons,” per the U.S. Naval Institute's USNI News.
“We’re not talking about cruise missiles or mines,” but “robotic systems to do lethal harm…a Terminator without a conscience,” said Air Force General Paul Selva, as he referenced the 1984 science fiction film while presenting at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on innovation in the Defense Department in August, USNI noted.
“Our job is to defeat the enemy,” he said, but “it is governed by law and by convention.”
Selva added that he and others have insisted on keeping humans involved in the decision-making process “to inflict violence on the enemy.”
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