Russia Deploys Terrifying A.I. 'Kamikaze' Drones in Ukraine
As we delve ever deeper into the technological horror show of the 21st century, we find that our worries are shifting…and rapidly.
Sure, we still need to deal with issues of identity theft and ransomware, but there are a plethora of cyber professionals who are doing an admirable job of keeping up with the bad guys.
The real, new trouble truly exists in the realm of artificial intelligence, where we’ve begun to allow for computational entities to begin to make decisions for themselves. And, when those computational entities are armed, we find ourselves opening up a whole new can of worms.
Such is the case in Ukraine at the moment.
A “suicide drone” that uses artificial intelligence to recognise targets and destroy them without being controlled by a human operator has reportedly been spotted in Ukraine
Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Minister Anton Gerashchenko posted a photo of the KUB-BLA device to Telegram.
The six-foot drone is made by by ZALA Aero, a subsidiary of famed Russian arms manufacturer Kalashnikov. After being fired from a portable launcher the KUB-BLA can loiter over a target area for up to half an hour, flying at speeds of around 80mph.
Advertisement - story continues belowOnce it has recognised a suitable target it deliberately crashes into it, detonating its seven-pound high explosive payload.
How worried should we be? Experts are weighing in .
Many experts fear that handing over the final decision about life and death could have horrifying consequences. “Giving machines the power to decide who lives and dies on the battlefield would take technology too far,” says Steve Goose, Arms Division director at Human Rights Watch.
“Human control of robotic warfare is essential to minimising civilian deaths and injuries,” he added.
Zachary Kallenborn, a research affiliate with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, warns that the deployment of the KUB-BLA in a war zone is a significant development in warfare.
Advertisement - story continues below“The notion of a killer robot—where you have artificial intelligence fused with weapons—that technology is here, and it’s being used,” he said.
The future is here, whether we like it or not.
