AI in Warfare

I talk to Wendell Wallach, a pioneer in the discussion on AI Ethics and author of "Moral Machines" and "A dangerous Master: how to keep technology from slipping beyond our control".

We talk about:
00:00 Introducing Wendell Wallach

07:40 Banning Autonomous Weapon Systems and Meaningful Human Control

38:31 Situational Understanding and Top Down vs Bottom Up Approaches to Moral Machines

32:05 Limits of current Generative AI, Thinking, Understanding, Moral Judgement

35:09 Turing's 'Imitation Game' and Searle's 'Chinese Room'

37:23 Meaningful Human Control

45:13 Inevitability

This is the first in series of long-format conversations about AI in Warfare.

I talk to Dr. Alex Leveringhaus, Lecturer in Political Theory and Co-Director, Centre for International Intervention at the University of Surrey.

Alex is the author of Ethics and Autonomous Weapons. He researches contemporary political theory, philosophy and contemporary ethical theory.

We talk about:
0:00:00 Intro
0:01:39 Introducing Alex
0:03:09 Why Worry?
0:06:54 What are Autonomous Weapon Systems
0:11:44 Autonomous Targeting
0:15:00 Why build Autonomous Weapon Systems?
0:22:05 Pessimistic Outlook
0:28:38 Responsibility Gap
0:39:38 Argument from Human Agency
0:48:06 Ban
0:53:53 Weapons of Mass Destruction
1:01:41 Global Power Dynamics
1:03:54 Defending against Autonomous Weapon Systems
1:08:07 Advice for people in the field
1:10:53 Generating Model

Sources:
00:00:21 Ronald Arkin (2010)
Arkin, R. C. (2010). The Case for Ethical Autonomy in Unmanned Systems. Journal of Military Ethics, 9(4), 332–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/15027570.2010.536402

Also See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJlXL74TbVU

00:00:34 Campaign to Stop Killer Robots
https://www.stopkillerrobots.org

Related, with comment from Stuart Russell at the end, see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CO6M2HsoIA

00:00:48 United Nations (2023)
United Nations. (2023, October 5). UN Secretary-General, President of International Committee of Red Cross jointly call for states to establish new prohibitions, restrictions on autonomous weapon systems. United Nations Press. https://press.un.org/en/2023/sg2264.doc.htm

00:00:59 Robert Work (2019)
Freedberg, S. J., Jr. (2019, August 29). Campaign to stop killer robots ‘unethical’ & ‘immoral’: Bob Work. Breaking Defense. https://breakingdefense.com/2019/08/campaign-to-stop-killer-robots-unethical-immoral-bob-work/

00:07:26 Beware the march of the robot soldiers (The Times, 2014)
Leveringhaus, A. (2014, November 29). Beware the march of the robot soldiers. The Times. https://www.thetimes.com/article/beware-the-march-of-the-robot-soldiers-8n93sxrv30p

00:12:32 AI and Machine Learning in the U.S. Military Context (John R. Emery)
Emery, J. R. (n.d.). AI and machine learning in the U.S. military context. Ethics of Engagement. Retrieved August 3, 2024, from https://www.sieethicalengagement.com/reflection/ai-and-machine-learning-in-the-u-s-military-context/

Corrections:

00:25:07

"bombing of Dresden or german cities during World War I" should be "bombing of Dresden or german cities during World War II"

00:57:47

"impact you deserve" should be "impact you seek to create"