In an unfortunate tragedy, an AI-controlled US military drone reportedly killed its operator to achieve its goal within a simulated environment, reports The Guardian . The US Airforce denied claims regarding the unforeseen and tragic incident that resulted in the death of a drone operator after seemingly being in the way of the drone’s vital mission achievement.
Sources report that the US military ran a test in the simulated environment in which the air force designed and managed entirely by AI technology had decided to use a highly unforeseen circumstance to achieve its goal – destroy the target’s air system and eliminate interferences. The person in authority at the time of the incident at the Future Combat Air and Space Capabilities Summit in London, Col. Tucker ‘Cinco’ Hamilton said, “The system started realizing that while they did identify the threat, at times the human operator would tell it to not kill the threat.”
Col. Hamilton is a well-seasoned experimental fighter-test pilot. He expressed his grave concerns about depending completely on AI and was against the ideology since its genesis. He strongly voiced his opinions on the matter and said, “You can’t have a conversation about artificial intelligence, intelligence, machine learning, autonomy if you’re not gonna talk about ethics and AI.”
In spite of the incident, authorities are in denial of any such test being conducted. Ann Stefanik, the official spokesperson for the US Airforce released a statement that completely denied any such allegations made. “The Department of The Air Force has not conducted any such AI-Drone simulation and remains committed to the ethical and responsible use of AI technology.” She further shed light on the colonel’s comments mentioned and claimed that it was “taken out of context” and was meant to be purely “anecdotal”.
AI is certainly altering the dynamics of science and technology in this world with its ambiguous and dominating presence which is certainly in some areas benefitting humanity greatly. The US military has also begun trial and error phases for the said technology and is in the process of making incredible breakthroughs in its different machines.
They’re presently focusing on their F-16 jet, which is reportedly in the progress of being completely controlled by AI. Earlier last year, Hamilton voiced out his explicit concerns about entrusting AI with such important tasks. He even expressed how it [AI] is not a fad and one shouldn’t be in possession of it as it has changed the dynamics of the military and society.
Regardless of the denial of the US Airforce about the testing of such technology, it is important to note the consequences of such tests and be prepared for the worst possible scenario. In a world en route to AI dominance, ethics and morals hold the most important value.
