What will the future of warfare look like? I'm willing to bet it will increasingly include robots powered by artificial intelligence and there are many articles supporting this assumption. This article will explore some of the future applications of AI in warfare.

In a recent article published by The Independent entitled 'AI is coming to war, regardless of Elon Musk’s well-meaning concern' it made some disturbing points about what is to come...

AI will have the power to escalate, and perhaps even initiate action, before we can stop it.

Elon Musk thinks we should ban Artificially Intelligent weapons before it’s too late and a galaxy of star researchers agree. This week, 116 of them wrote an open letter warning that time was running out. The danger is real – though it’s not the one the public often imagines, of some malign Skynet-like computer developing a mind and agenda of its own.

There are many fears that AI will go too far eventually undermining humanity and creating plans of it's own.

Machines may eventually develop their own motivations, perhaps even their own consciousness, but we are a very long way from that; and if it ever comes, it will look far different to our evolved, biological cognition and motivations.

This is a very real concern for the scientists and industry leaders calling for more restrictions on AI.

A second concern is that machines would be indiscriminate killers – perhaps targeting civilians. In one narrow sense, machines are likely to be rather more reliable than humans in shooting targets – they won’t feel the effects of fatigue, or fear, and they are much better at recalling previous examples.

Technology has always played a huge role in determining the winners and losers of wars and that fact which has been true for centuries will continue to be true in the coming ones.

The real danger from AI weapons, however, is that they’ll be rather too good at what they do. Speed is their big advantage over humans on the battlefield. And they work too quickly for us to intervene when we might need to – for example, if our goals change, after instructing our robot army. The Ministry of Defence wants to keep a human “in the loop” – but at great speed, there simply won’t be time: the enemy might not be so queasy, and their robots will be faster and deadly.

This is my understanding of how robots will affect future warfare. Humans will simply be too slow to keep up with the pace of future wars. It's my hope that a stronger focus on peace may usher in a possibility of this event not happening in the first place.

What if I told you robotic warfare has already begun...

Well not exactly in the way you may think. Have a look at the following video and see if it gets a few laughs...

Techblogger Wrap Up

Do you think robotic warfare will replace human warfare and if so, is that really a bad thing? Could countries simply decide winners and losers based on a battle between bots?

If we have learned anything from the past century its that humanity is on a race to defeat itself through a lack of co-operation and understanding of different cultures and attitudes. Greed may be the biggest factor in the creation of wars but its certainly not the only one.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Please leave your comments and feedback below.

Thanks for reading!

Sources:

AI is coming to war, regardless of Elon Musk’s well-meaning concern - Independent

THIS MEANS WAR between USA and Japan! GIANT ROBOT WAR - The Register