Parliament has been warned that terrorists and rogue states will get their hands on killer robots in the next few years.
Academics and senior scientists warned the ‘genie is out the bottle’ when it comes to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) on the battlefield.
And now AI experts also warned the House of Lords inquiry this week that terrorists are now looking to hijack self-driving cars to mow down innocent people in a copycat Westminster Bridge-style attack.
Autonomous weapons which can pull the trigger without the use of human control are already being developed, experts warned.
Autonomous weapons which can pull the trigger without the use of human control are already being developed, experts warned
Alvin Wilby, of French defence firm Thales, said it is an ‘absolute certainty in the very near future’ that rogue states will be able to get their hands on robot arms.
Dr Wilby also added the rise in self-driving cars which use on-board computers give terrorists another chance to carry out attacks.
He added: ‘The genie’s out of the bottle and the capability is out there.’
Professor Noel Sharkey, who is an expert in robotics, highlighted that ISIS already use remote-control plans to drop grenades on troops, the Sun reports.
He added: ‘One of the problems is the more we develop this technology, what we’ll see is very bad copies coming back that have made no attempt at discrimination or proportionality whatsoever.’
Alvin Wilby, of French defence firm Thales, said it is an ‘absolute certainty in the very near future’ that rogue states will be able to get their hands on robot arms
Ministry of Defence official Mike Stone said: ‘I think it’s absolutely inevitable that this is going to get into the hands of non-state actors and certainly rogue states, North Korea and Iran top the list in most people’s minds.’
Dr Wilby added: ‘If someone’s car is reprogrammed to kill pedestrians, it’s become an autonomous weapons system. That’s a credible terrorist threat.’
Previously, billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk warned that advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) pose more of a threat to humanity than North Korea.
‘If you’re not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea,’ Musk wrote on Twitter Friday.
Musk, 46, posted the ominous message after a war of words between North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump escalated this week.