ΑΙ WARFARE IS BORING BUT DEADLY

BUREAUCRATS IN CUBICLES WILL KILL MORE PEOPLE THAN TERMINATOR ROBOTS WILL.

- MATTHEW PETTI

EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT the AI apocalypse is supposed to look like. The movies WarGames and The Terminator feature a superintelligent computer taking control of weapons in a bid to end humankind. Fortunately, that scenario is unlikely for now. U.S. nuclear missiles, which run on decades-old technology, require a human being with a physical key to launch.

But AI is already killing people around the world in more boring ways. The U.S. and Israeli militaries have been using AI systems to sift through intelligence and plan airstrikes, according to Bloomberg News, The Guardian, and +972 Magazine.

This type of software has allowed commanders to find and list targets far faster than human staff could by themselves. The attacks are then carried out by human pilots, either with manned aircraft or remote control drones. “The machine did it coldly. And that made it easier,” an Israeli intelligence officer said, according to The Guardian.

Going further, Turkish, Russian, and Ukrainian weapons manufacturers claim to have built “autonomous” drones that can strike targets even if their connection to the remote pilot is lost or jammed. Experts, however, are skeptical about whether these drones have made truly autonomous kills.