Keeping Autonomous Weapons Ethical
September 20, 2018
A group of experts meeting under the auspices of the United Nations recently examined how to control the use of lethal autonomous weapons, but reached no final conclusions. In Issues, an analyst who looked at artificial intelligence (AI) more broadly has proposed that at a minimum, the weapons must be subject to oversight by fast-acting AI systems—“AI Guardians”—that can ensure their safe and ethical operation. Similarly, fitting autonomous weapons with an “ethical governor” is explored here.