Rise of the killer robots

Artificially intelligent weapons are transforming armies around the world – should we be worried about this new arms race?

- By Matthew Campbell, Photography by Gallo Images / Getty Images, Gallo Images / Alamy

A white drone hovers high above a sunny Californian valley. Then a bigger black drone appears, mimicking its movements, stalking it.

“It’s like on those nature shows when a lion’s chasing a wildebeest – you know it’s not going to end well for the wildebeest,” says Chris Brose of Anduril Industries, an American company that manufactures defence technology.

He’s showing offsome of Anduril’s latest products: the black drone suddenly darts upwards at 160km/h and knocks the other whirring machine out of the sky. Pre-programmed to recognise and destroy unauthorised intruders by smashing into them in an act of drone suicide, it can do this without referring to any human.

The killer robots and “kamikaze” drones are here: the artificially intelligent weaponry of science fiction is now a reality – and is about to transform armies, navies and air forces around the world. This has unleashed a new arms race.

“Think about what the machine-gun did to war in 1914 or what aircraft did in 1939,” says Peter Singer, an American “futurist” and bestselling author. “Why would anyone expect that artificial intelligence and robotics are somehow going to have a lesser impact?”