US Air Force says decision-making attack drones will be here by 2047

Apparently the US Air Force wants to replace human controlled UAVs with AI controlled ones by 2047. This would mean that a computer system, not a human, would determine what the best course of action to take is in military situations. The only part humans would play would be to monitor what the drone is doing, and hit the override switch if necessary in order to take direct control. Although the details are vague, the drone will be able to act in accordance with legal and policy restraints without the aid of a human. To my understanding, this simply translates into what so many science fiction stories have covered, robots fighting our wars for us. The Air Force has stated that all of the programming would be based on “human intent”, but the details beyond that are intentionally vague. This tidbit alone is quite a statement, since that would require an Artificial Intelligence system that is able to think and reason, at least in part, as well as a human.

Many of the comments jumped to popular science fiction references such as Terminator’s Skynet or the recent Eagle Eye. One person even touched on an NPR discussion they heard concerning the question of who is responsible for the action of these machines, and whether or not a UAV can commit a war crime. Another commenter just couldn’t believe that they would live to see such a thing occur, granted that this plan finishes on time. Beyond this, a few also regarded the idea with intense sarcasm at its “fail safe” nature. In essence, people are worried about the safety of such a device, and make an instant connection to science fiction. It really is to be expected, considering the amount of exposure we have all had to the idea of a “robot apocalypse” scenario.

Personally, I think there is a definite concern here, but it is obviously not as large as some of the comments joke. The reality is that the chances of this kind of thing being a major problem are slim, and once the project gains too much unwanted attention, it would surely be shut down.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/28/us-air-force-says-decision-making-attack-drones-will-be-here-by/