Korea steps back from 'killer robot' lab after threatened boycott TheINQUIRER

THE PLANNED boycott of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) over its research into military robots has been cancelled after the lab agreed to step back from the brink of madness. The state-run lab known as Research Centre for the Convergence of National Defence and Artificial Intelligence (RCCNDAI, presumably) was working in partnership with defence company Hanwa, a company which develops so-called'cluster munitions' which are banned in over 100 countries and a completely autonomous sentry robot called SGR-A1 - echoes of ED-209 anyone? Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, who initiated the action, praised KAIST for the rapid response. "I was very pleased that the president of KAIST has agreed not to develop lethal autonomous weapons, and to follow international norms by ensuring meaningful human control of any AI-based weapon that will be developed," he said. "I applaud KAIST for doing the right thing, and I'll be happy to work with KAIST in the future. "It goes to show the power of the scientific community when we choose to speak out - our action was an overnight success," he added. "We initially sought assurances in private from the university more than month ago about the goals of their new lab.