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AI Robotics

Austria Calls For Rapid Regulation as It Hosts Meeting on 'Killer Robots' (reuters.com) 38

Posted by msmash from the tussle-continues dept.
Austria called on Monday for fresh efforts to regulate the use of AI in weapons systems that could create so-called 'killer robots', as it hosted a conference aimed at reviving largely stalled discussions on the issue. From a report: With AI technology advancing rapidly, weapons systems that could kill without human intervention are coming ever closer, posing ethical and legal challenges that most countries say need addressing soon. "We cannot let this moment pass without taking action. Now is the time to agree on international rules and norms to ensure human control," Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told the meeting of non-governmental and international organisations as well as envoys from 143 countries.

"At least let us make sure that the most profound and far-reaching decision, who lives and who dies, remains in the hands of humans and not of machines," he said in an opening speech to the conference entitled "Humanity at the Crossroads: Autonomous Weapons Systems and the Challenge of Regulation." Years of discussions at the United Nations have produced few tangible results and many participants at the two-day conference in Vienna said the window for action was closing rapidly.
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Austria Calls For Rapid Regulation as It Hosts Meeting on 'Killer Robots' More

Austria Calls For Rapid Regulation as It Hosts Meeting on 'Killer Robots'

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  • If anyone knows... (Score:5, Funny)

    by DrSpock11 ( 993950 ) on Monday April 29, 2024 @09:53AM (#64432766)

    If any country knows about the dangers of producing killer robots, it's Austria.

  • Wasn't Hitler from there? And didn't they allow Nazi Germany to just annex them with zero resistance? Maybe they should look at regulating their humans first?

    • Wasn't Hitler from there?

      Yes. He was born in the province of Upper Austria.

      And didn't they allow Nazi Germany to just annex them with zero resistance? Maybe they should look at regulating their humans first?

      Only after the brownshirts or their Austrian equivalents installed people in the government. The majority of the populace was actually not enthralled by him.

  • Needs to have complete international buy in (Score:5, Interesting)

    by AleRunner ( 4556245 ) on Monday April 29, 2024 @10:01AM (#64432794)

    Today we have the extremely dangerous situation where Russia and the US are in or used to be in various arms limitations treaties whilst China, as the up and coming power, wasn't really around when they were negotiated and isn't included. That is leading to Russia and the US backing out of those treaties so they don't get a strategic disadvantage. That inequality is a real problem.

    Similar things are happening in Ukraine. Anti landmine and anti-cluster-munition treaties limit Ukraine's friends like the UK and other European neighbours. Even the US seems to feel partly bound by them even though it hasn't yet signed. At the same time Russia just dumps land mines and cluster munitions all over Ukraine with no idea of morality even slowing them down slightly. That means that demands that Ukraine not use cluster munitions actually made the cluster munition situation in Ukraine worse by allowing Russia more chance to drop them everywhere.

    If we get a treaty like this, we must make absolutely sure that those that refuse to join do not benefit from that refusal.

    • I remember reading up on cluster munitions and the banning stuff.

      Okay, the problem with cluster bombs is that generally speaking, you pay attention to the fusing mechanism on a 500 or 2k pound bomb. You're dropping a lot of explosives there, of course. Even if it fails, you only have a single UXO.

      With cluster bombs, a lot of places "skimped" on the fuses. So you could have a failure rate of 20% or more where they don't go boom, so from a single cluster bomb you could end up with like 40 UXOs to worry abo

      • Everything you said is absolutely right, however what it doesn't take into account is that the longer Russians are in Ukraine, the more cluster munitions they spread and importantly they tend to do that over the areas where Ukrainians live. The way to reduce the amount of cluster munitions is to get rid of them. The faster the better. Ironically, cluster munitions, specifically M-39 ATACMS are one of the most effective ways of doing that. They were held back due to Western morality questions about using clu

        • Pretty much. Anything that shortens the war tends to lower casualties, both military and civilian. A long term grind like in Ukraine right now is about the worst type of war to suffer.

          And it's not like Russia is going to stop using cluster munitions, including ones with 50%+ failure rates, unless they literally can't get or build the components for them anymore. Denying them western parts just makes the problem worse. Well, on the UXO front. I'll generally take a UXO any day over a munition actually ex

  • ... a problem with drop bears?

    It seems that everything in that country is trying to kill you.

  • Seriously - with components anyone can buy and software anyone can obtain, I could build multiple types of killer robot in my garage.

    Then again, I can also make all sorts of other very dangerous things. And I could drive my car down the boardwalk on a sunny day and probably kill dozens easily, hundreds with a bit of effort.

    You mostly don't have to worry about that because typically we're not trying to kill each other, and the occasional unhinged person who is tends to either give a lot of warning or muck u

    • Yeah, remember the Colorado Killdozer? Maybe we should ban bulldozers, welding rigs, steel plates, and diesel fuel, too.
    • There are already killer bots. Some drones are capable of detect and eliminate targets. There is a human on the loop that "decides" if the drone shuts or not, but it's for show. The owners of said drones could just take the human from the decision chain anytime.
  • Is it good enough if a human: built it? pressed the button to start it up and set it free? gave it a kill box? programmed a mission? Can the human wait until it is in an area where they know only hostile targets exist and then set weapons free? What if it sends a message back saying "I have identified a hostile target, shall I engage?" and all the human has to do is hit YES? Is that really enough? Does the human actually need to see an image of the target? What if the image sucks and the humans just default

    • I'm sure I'm miles behind the Ukrainians and ignorant of the political issues, but 'live within the designated target zone' is how I've always imagined making autonomous killer drones work. Not much different from a mine or grenade that way, except for deployment flexibility.

    • Mines already exist.
  • Does it have to have arms? Does it have to have legs? Does it kill with a gun? If we take away those requirements, we already have them and they've already killed. Look at Tesla.
  • because first there was the atomic bomb, which provided more than enough destruction to prove a point, then they created the hydrogen bomb in case someone else invented it first.
  • At least killer robot dogs, kamikaze drones, and flying guns can't kill you and turn your body into a self-replicating weapon.

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