Unmanned Systems Technology 007 | UMEX 2016 report | Navya ARMA | Launch & recovery systems | AIE 225CS | AUVs | Electric motors | Lethal autonomous weapons

74 I t is very rare that eminent scientists and technologists, including experts in the field in question, call for a halt or a major change of direction in a rapidly evolving and powerful technology, but that is exactly what has happened with Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly as it is applied to unmanned systems. With the backing of such luminaries as Professor Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk (founder of companies including PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX), the Future of Life Institute (FLI) has called for a ban on the development of autonomous weapons to prevent an AI arms race. This chimes with current wider concerns about the safety of autonomous vehicles such as self-driving cars – which are now a reality – UAVs mixing with airliners in controlled airspace and, of course, the hobbyist multicopters that terrorists and criminals might turn into weapons, the fear of which is spawning a counter-UAV industry. The plea from the FLI came in the form of an open letter it published in July 2015 to coincide with the start of the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence. Hawking and Musk arguably have the highest media profiles, but they were joined by many others with big names in science and industry or impressive credentials in AI – or Scientists are calling for a ban on autonomous weapon systems, but as Peter Donaldson reports, it might already be too late One command away April/May 2016 | Unmanned Systems Technology Building machines that mimic human intelligence has long been a goal of computer science, but experts are calling for a pause to think about its potential consequences (Artist’s impression via Rand)