The Unsexy Side of AI

Killer robots, once imaginary fears envisioned in sci-fi films, are now referred to as Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) (sometimes referred to as Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAW) and Lethal Autonomous Robots (LAR)). The US Department of Defence defines LAWS as "a weapon system that, once activated, can select and engage targets without further intervention by a human operator …". These robots are not only capable of taking lives, but are also "learning" to take lives without human control. The general capabilities and developments on LAWS are well known and have been the focus of many more detailed articles than can be discussed here (see for example articles by Toby Walsh and Stuart Russell's Resources on LAWS). LAWS' capabilities are advancing with the exponential growth of technological capacity.