Toby Walsh, A.I. Expert, Is Racing to Stop the Killer Robots

Toby Walsh, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, is one of Australia's leading experts on artificial intelligence. He and other experts have released a report outlining the promises, and ethical pitfalls, of the country's embrace of A.I. Recently, Dr. Walsh, 55, has been working with the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a coalition of scientists and human rights leaders seeking to halt the development of autonomous robotic weapons. We spoke briefly at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, where he was making a presentation, and then for two hours via telephone. Below is an edited version of those conversations. It happened incrementally, beginning around 2013.