Artificial intelligence is the future of aerospace and defence, but the chief executive of French giant Thales says there is one application of the technology that his firm will never pursue: autonomous killing machines. "It has been discussed for too long, to be honest. It's not that difficult to say no to killer robots," Patrice Caine told a group of journalists in Montreal Thursday. AI-powered lethal weapons aren't the sort of thing that most CEOs have to worry about, but Thales operates in the aerospace, transportation and defence sectors, and Caine told the Financial Post that he imagines AI will be embedded in just about every aspect of the company's business in the next five years or so. "I would say you will find some kind of AI almost everywhere," he said.

Introducing self-governing killer robots to the battlefield could have horrific consequences for mankind, a leading academic has warned. The lethal technology is being developed around the world and is slowly being used in warfare as countries try to stay ahead of other nations. A global initiative to prohibit the use of fully autonomous killing machines that do not require any human oversight to choose and execute people was blocked earlier this year. A handful of countries including Australia, Israel, the US, Russia and South Korea prevented the worldwide ban - citing the need for further talks on the'benefits and advantages of autonomous weapons'. Richard Moyes, an honorary fellow at the University of Exeter and founding member of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots (CSKR), has revealed the long-term use of killer robots, without human controllers, may result in unnecessary loss of life to both civilians and soldiers.

Hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals, many of them researchers and engineers prominent in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence, vowed on Wednesday never to apply their skills toward the creation of autonomous killing machines. Led by the Future of Life Institute, a Boston-based nonprofit, as many as 160 AI-related companies in 36 countries, and 2,400 individuals in 90 countries, signed the pledge stating that autonomous weapons posed a "clear and present danger to the citizens of every country in the world," and that they would not participate in their development. "Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to play an increasing role in military systems," the pledge states. "There is an urgent opportunity and necessity for citizens, policymakers, and leaders to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI." The signatories, who join 26 United Nations countries that have explicitly called for a ban on lethal autonomous weapons, include DeepMind, Google's top AI research team; the European Association for AI; ClearPath Robotics/OTTO Motors; the XPRIZE Foundation, the Swedish AI Society; and University College of London, among others. Leading AI researchers Demis Hassabis, Stuart Russell, Yoshua Bengio, Anca Dragan, Toby Walsh, and Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk are among the individuals who also signed the pledge.

As we head deeper into the 21st century, the prospect of getting robots to do the dirty business of killing gets closer with each passing day. In Max Tegmark's new book, Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, the MIT physicist and founder of the Future of Life Institute contemplates this seemingly scifi possibility, weighing the potential benefits of autonomous machines in warfare with the tremendous risks. The ultimate challenge, he says, will be convincing world powers to pass on this game-changing technology. AI has the potential to transform virtually every aspect of our existence, but it's not immediately clear if we be able to fully control this awesome power. Radical advances in AI could conceivably result in a utopian paradise, or a techno-hell worthy of a James Cameron movie script.

'Never,' Defense Secretary Carter Says « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary IN FLIGHT TO ANDREWS AFB: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is pushing hard for artificial intelligence -- but the US military will "never" unleash truly autonomous killing machines, he pledged today. "In many cases, and certainly whenever it comes to the application of force, there will never be true... IN FLIGHT TO ANDREWS AFB: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is pushing hard for artificial intelligence -- but the US military will "never" unleash truly autonomous killing machines, he pledged today. "In many cases, and certainly whenever it comes to the application of force, there will never be true...