Weapons – Cosmic Log

AI activists make a movie about killer robots

SlaughterBots movie scene — Bad guys unleash a batch of killer drones in a video created to illustrate the dangers of autonomous weapons. (Campaign to Stop Killer Robots / Future of Life Institute)

As if the mere phrase “killer robots” weren’t scary enough, AI researchers and policy advocates have put together a video that combines present-tense AI and drone technologies with future-tense nightmares.

The disturbing seven-minute movie is being released to coincide with a pitch being made on Nov. 13 in Geneva during talks relating to the U.N. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, or CCW.

Diplomats will be discussing the prospects for a global ban on lethal autonomous weapons, and an advocacy group known as the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is pressing for quick action. The campaign’s video is meant to show how quickly the threat could move from TED talks to mass killings.

Get the full story on GeekWire.

Killer bomb robot sparks new debate

Image: Bomb disposal robot — An Andros bomb-disposal robot is used in a training exercise in Uruguay. A more advanced Andros robot is thought to have played a role in ending the Dallas shooting standoff. (Credit: U.S. Navy file)

This week’s horrific Dallas shooting ordeal may well mark the first time police ended a standoff with a suspect by sending in a killer robot, but it almost certainly won’t be the last time.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown said the robot was jury-rigged to carry an explosive into the parking garage at El Centro College where the suspect was holed up, after several hours of negotiations had stalled.

“We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was,” Brown told reporters today. “Other options would have exposed our officers in grave danger. The suspect is deceased as a result of detonating the bomb.”

The circumstances are still unclear. For example, did the suspect see this coming? How much control did the authorities exert over the robot? How close did it get? What is clear is that this isn’t a routine strategy for domestic police. Peter W. Singer, a strategist and senior fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of “Wired for War,” said in a series of tweets that it appears to be unprecedented.

Get the full story on GeekWire.