One of the biggest fears about the development of AI, was the dreaded “race condition”.
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That’s when multiple powers throw all their money and resources into developing a technology first.
When an “Arms Race” occurs, technology takes a MASSIVE leap forward.
During the Cold War, we developed nuclear subs, spy satellites, and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
We made huge leaps in computer science and aerospace.
The “race condition” condensed decades into years.
This is what everyone fears will happen with A.I.
When the big tech (Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft) starts racing to have A.I. supremacy.
When the U.S. and China start racing to get to A.I.
That’s when they are least likely to worry about the safety of this technology and just focus on how fast they can advance it.
Russia already made a pretty strong statement about where it thinks A.I. is going:
“Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind.
It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict.
Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, 2017.
In the past only world power countries could fund the development of technologies like the nuclear bomb.
Now, with some corporations bigger than countries and a global network of capital, there are more players in this race than we can imagine.
The release of ChatGPT in 2022 was like the starter’s pistol that set off the race.
(while many were working on A.I. before, 2022 was likely the “inflection point” that took progress from slow to “eye-wateringly” fast)
One of the questions on people’s minds is how this technology will be used for war.
This may come as a surprise to some, but we already have autonomous robots operating in the world that make the decisions to kill.
Without any human input.
While the US military is developing robots capable of shooting and killing enemy combatants, safety’s are built in that require a human to approve any lethal actions.
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Now armed robots have been used as far back as Iraq in 2007.
The difference now is that we are getting to the point where AI is getting much, much better than humans at almost every aspect of controlling these weapons.
For a long time, we were not aware of any autonomous killing of humans.
As far as we knew, in each case, there was a human pilot or operator that was overseeing the machine.
That all changed in 2020.
In 2020 a Kargu 2 drone hunted down and attacked a human target in Libya,
According to a report from the UN Security Council.
It was tasked with pursuit and elimination of fleeing soldiers.
It did so while being disconnected from it’s command center, flying and executing autonomously.
This may have been the first time an autonomous killer robot armed with lethal weaponry attacked human beings.
In May 2021 Israel an AI guided combat drone swarm in Gaza attack.
Since then there have been numerous reports of swarms and other autonomous weapons systems being used on battlefields around the world.
The most terrifying thing about autonomous killer drones is the fact that deterrence is extremely difficult.
Defending against an autonomous drone swarm is nearly impossible.
While using them for offense, is extremely effective and safe for the attackers.
This means that armies who wield the most advanced AI technology will be overwhelmingly powerful against non-AI forces.
But it also means that in a war between two AI powers, the one to use the first and most vicious attack, will likely have the upper hand.
There are some examples of where these drones save lives.
For example Israeli drones use a technique called “roof knocking” where drones give warning to residents of a building before it’s destroyed.
Recent breakthroughs made by OpenAI and Nvidia allows robots to be trained inside virtual simulators where time flows 10,000 times faster, but still retains all of the physics of the real world.
This allows decades of AI training to happen within hours or days.
This technology will add an exponential growth to the abilities of these drones to attack and execute complex war tactics.
2020 marked the inflection point in AI. The next decade will change every aspect of human existence in both positive and negative ways.
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