3 Ways AI Is Making You Safer

ONCE THE STUFF OF APOCALYPTIC SCI-FI tales, killer robots capable of choosing and taking out our nation's enemies are now within reach--if companies and the Pentagon decide to go that far. Defense officials have so far stopped short of developing Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (the government's official term), which could theoretically strike without a human order as easily as Facebook can tag friends in your photos without your say-so. But the A.I.-driven technology that could form the basis for such attacks is well underway. Project Maven, the Pentagon's most high-profile A.I. initiative, aims to use machine-learning algorithms to identify terrorist targets from drone footage, assisting military efforts to combat ISIS (more than 20 tech and defense contractors are reportedly involved, though they have not all been publicly named). Although supporting war efforts is nothing new for the defense industry, the Pentagon has increasingly looked to Silicon Valley for expertise in A.I. and facial recognition.