The Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was among the scientists, researchers of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and business, signed an open letter about the need to prevent an arms race on the basis of artificial intelligence. The group is confident that it can lead to very dire consequences for humanity.
The text of the open letter with a form for signature and list of signatories is published on the website of the Future of Life Institute. In addition to Wozniak consent under appeal at the moment, have put several hundred scientists and experts from around the world, including the most famous popularizer of science, British physicist Stephen Hawking and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX project Elon Musk.
The letter States that Autonomous weapons, based on artificial intelligence is their ability to hit targets without human intervention and that AI technology has already reached the point when the deployment of weapons systems with AI can be practically implemented in the coming years. Autonomous weapons systems is called the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear weapons.
The authors of the letter believe that humanity is now the key question is whether or not running the arms race-based AI. If such a race will begin to initiate a large Corporation, then after a while Autonomous weapon systems will be widely disseminated, because, unlike nuclear weapons, they do not require expensive or difficult to obtain raw materials.
“A matter of time will be the emergence of such systems on the black market or getting it into the hands of terrorists, dictators, warlords seeking to implement ethnic cleansing. Autonomous weapons are perfect for murders, destabilizing the nation, subjugation of the population and the selective destruction of a specific ethnic group. Therefore, we believe that the arms race-based AI is not beneficial to humanity”, — quotes the letter of the RIA.
The authors of the letter note that the AI has great potential and useful in many respects may do a good service to mankind. But the arms race AI is a bad idea, and it is therefore necessary to impose a ban on offensive weapons, created on the basis of artificial intelligence, said in the letter.
