Top US Army official: Build AI weapons first, then design safety - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Even as the United Nations continues a long-running debate on how to regulate lethal autonomous weapons, a top US Army official is doubling down on his vision for incredibly autonomous systems that can categorize threats, select targets, and fire artillery without any human involvement. After that sort of system has been developed, the Army's acquisitions chief Bruce Jette said, an interface can be added for any "safety concerns." Jette, a former tank operator with a doctorate from MIT, made the comments at an event at the recently-concluded 2019 Association for the United States Army conference. There, Jette talked about building a tank turret hooked to an artificial intelligence system that, he said, could distinguish between a Volkswagen and an infantry fighting vehicle and then "shoot it." Defense News reported on Jette's call for fully autonomous weapons.