It's the chilling plot line to every science fiction movie about robots in the future: Once they start thinking for themselves, humanity is doomed. Think of the HAL 9000 in "2001: A Space Odyssey," or the replicants in "Blade Runner," or the hosts in "Westworld." These days the Pentagon is doing a lot of thinking about the nascent scientific field of artificial intelligence, also known as "machine learning," developing computer algorithms that will allow cars to drive themselves, robots to perform surgery, and even weapons to kill autonomously. The race to master artificial intelligence is the No. 1 priority of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the tiny organization with just over 200 workers that was instrumental in developing stealth technology, high precision weapons, and the Internet. "In reality, over about the last 50 years, DARPA and its research partners have led the way to establishing the field of artificial intelligence. We are not new to this game," said DARPA Director Steven Walker at the agency's 60th anniversary symposium in September.

A top military official has warned lawmakers not to equip the military with autonomous weapons that could go rogue. The US's second highest-ranking general said he believed humans must always be the ones to pull the trigger when it came to killing people. General Paul Selva advocated keeping the'ethical rules of war' - even if the US's enemies didn't. In June the Pentagon awarded an $11 million (£8.4 million) contract to build a'combined-arms squad' of human and robotic capabilities. The US's second highest-ranking general warned that he does not'think it's reasonable to put robots in charge of whether we take a human life' (stock image) In June the Pentagon awarded an $11 million (£8.4 million) contract to build a'combined-arms squad' of human and robotic capabilities.

In a world where globalization makes it possible for adversaries to compete with American technologies, the United States must consistently innovate and adopt new tools and methods to stay ahead in the national security space. That was the message at a special panel held at Georgetown University on Monday, called "The Future of Innovation in National Security." It featured five panelists across the security space from the Pentagon, the Intelligence Community, and the private sector. The panel discussion was an extension of a course at Georgetown University called "Hacking 4 Defense" – for which The Cipher Brief is a media sponsor – which aims to use new methodology to find solutions to real national security challenges identified by U.S. government agencies. The key question of this endeavor was: "how we do gain advantage by not playing the same game that has been played before" and "force [the enemy] to engage with a different set of rules," said Milo Medin, Vice President of Access Services at Google and a member of the Defense Innovation Board, an initiative set up by former Defense Secretary Ash Carter in 2016.

Robotic weapons have become so advanced that top military experts in the US fear the plot of the sci-fi film'Terminator' could come true. Huge technological leaps forward in drones, artificial intelligence and autonomous weapon systems must be addressed before humanity is driven to extinction by mechanical overlords like in the 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, according to Pentagon chiefs. Air Force General Paul Selva, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the US Defense Department, said so-called thinking weapons could lead to: "Robotic systems to do lethal harm... a Terminator without a conscience." When asked about robotic weapons able to make their own decisions, he said: "Our job is to defeat the enemy" but "it is governed by law and by convention." He says the military insists on keeping humans in the decision-making process to "inflict violence on the enemy". "That ethical boundary is the one we've draw a pretty fine line on.

As autonomous technology continues to evolve, the Pentagon finds itself being pulled in two directions, enticed by the capabilities that autonomous systems could provide while also insistent it always be subservient to humans, and a set of human morals and mindsets. That tension was on full display Aug. 25, when a new report from a key Pentagon advisory group called for an acceleration of autonomous systems within the US military at the same time the country's second highest ranking uniformed officer warned that there will need to be limits on how the technology is used in order to avoid the dreaded killer-robot scenario. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, laid out his concerns with the "Terminator Conundrum," the idea that a fully autonomous system could be created with the capability to make decisions about when and where to inflict violence. While noting that technologists in the Pentagon believe that capability is still a decade away, Selva noted that 15 years ago he was told a digital rendering of the world would be impossible and never happen, before dryly telling the audience" "So I guess Google Earth is an impossibility." He also threw his support behind the idea of a treaty or global convention against the creation of wholly autonomous systems that can operate without a man in the loop controlling it, saying: "I do think we need to examine the bodies of law and convention that might constrain anyone in the world from building that kind of a system.

Robotic weapons have become so advanced that top military experts in the US fear the plot of the sci-fi film'Terminator' could come true. Huge technological leaps forward in drones, artificial intelligence and autonomous weapon systems must be addressed before humanity is driven to extinction by mechanical overlords like in the 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, according to Pentagon chiefs. Air Force General Paul Selva, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the US Defense Department, said so-called thinking weapons could lead to: "Robotic systems to do lethal harm... a Terminator without a conscience." When asked about robotic weapons able to make their own decisions, he said: "Our job is to defeat the enemy" but "it is governed by law and by convention." He says the military insists on keeping humans in the decision-making process to "inflict violence on the enemy". "That ethical boundary is the one we've draw a pretty fine line on.