Former Google engineer warns AI might accidentally start a war: "These things will start to behave in unexpected ways"

Advancements in artificial intelligence may result in "atrocities" because the technology will behave in unexpected ways, a former Google software engineer has warned. Computer scientist Laura Nolan left Google in June last year after raising concerns about its work with the U.S. Department of Defense on Project Maven, a drone program that was using AI algorithms to speed up analysis of vast amounts of captured surveillance footage. Speaking to The Guardian, the software engineer said the use of autonomous or AI-enhanced weapons systems that lack a human touch may have severe, even fatal, consequences. She said: "What you are looking at are possible atrocities and unlawful killings even under laws of warfare, especially if hundreds or thousands of these machines are deployed. There could be large-scale accidents because these things will start to behave in unexpected ways.