No to Lethal AI

Updated Mar 28 2023 The New York Times

A.I. Is Being Built by People Who Think It Might Destroy Us

Another “doomsday” piece about AI, which, by the way, still is more Artificial than Intelligent.

But it is getting better, so we should be prepared.

Dec 6 2022 The New York Times

San Francisco Backtracks on Plan to Allow Police Robots to Use Deadly Force

In November San Francisco Board of Supervisors advanced a policy that would have allowed the police to use a robot with deadly force. There was a backlash and in the second vote they reversed the idea. The police can use remote-controlled robots, but not with deadly force.

So, no killer robots and no lethal AI.
At least, not yet.

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The original decision to allow deadly force was in the news at the same time as a piece in The Washington Post about Henry Kissinger speaking in a forum titled “Man, Machine, and God”.

Why artificial intelligence is now a primary concern for Henry Kissinger

Kissinger described “AI as the new frontier of arms control”, and “cautioned that AI systems could transform warfare just as they have chess or other games of strategy — because they are capable of making moves that no human would consider but that have devastatingly effective consequences.”

This is not the first time Kissinger deals with AI. His 2018 essay in The Atlantic, How the Enlightenment Ends has a subtitle which summarizes the message: “Philosophically, intellectually — in every way — human society is unprepared for the rise of artificial intelligence.”

The Washington Post piece ends with a quote from Kissinger:

“Asked whether he was optimistic about the ability of humanity to limit the destructive capabilities of AI when it’s applied to warfare, Kissinger answered: “I retain my optimism in the sense that if we don’t solve it, it’ll literally destroy us. … We have no choice.”

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Maybe someone in San Francisco was listening to Henry Kissinger.