Some leading robot makers are pledging not to weaponize them
Print/DownloadSome leading robot makers are pledging not to weaponize them
NPR ^
| October 6, 2022
| JOE HERNANDEZ
Posted on 10/06/2022 7:30:47 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Boston Dynamics and five other robotics companies have signed an open letter saying what many of us were already nervously hoping for anyway: Let’s not weaponize general-purpose robots.
The six leading tech firms — including Agility Robotics, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Unitree — say advanced robots could result in huge benefits in our work and home lives but that they may also be used for nefarious purposes.
“Untrustworthy people could use them to invade civil rights or to threaten, harm, or intimidate others,” the companies said.
“We believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously operated, widely available to the public, and capable of navigating to previously inaccessible locations where people live and work, raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues,” they added.
The firms pledged not to weaponize their “advanced-mobility general-purpose robots” or the software that makes them function. They also said they would try to make sure their customers didn’t weaponize the companies’ products.
The companies said they don’t take issue with “existing technologies” that governments use to “defend themselves and uphold their laws.”
According to Boston Dynamics’ website, police and fire departments are using the company’s dog-like robot Spot to assess risky situations, but the firm says Spot is not designed for surveillance or to replace police officers.
There have been growing calls across the globe to curb the use of autonomous weapons systems — which operate on their own and don’t involve a human operator — and the Stop Killer Robots campaign says nearly 100 countries and a majority of people oppose autonomous weapons.
But a meeting of the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons last year failed to reach a consensus governing the use of so-called killer robots, due in part to objections from countries working on such technologies including the U.S, the UK and Russia, CNBC reported.
TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: killerrobots; robots; terminator
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1
posted on 10/06/2022 7:30:47 PM PDT
by BenLurkin
To: BenLurkin
Phew! I was worried. Now that this iron-clad pledge has been taken I can sleep with BOTH eyes closed!
2
posted on 10/06/2022 7:33:43 PM PDT
by toddausauras
( )
To: BenLurkin
“Give a monkey a stick and inevitably he’ll beat another monkey to death with it.”
3
posted on 10/06/2022 7:34:45 PM PDT
by WMarshal
(Neocons and leftards are the same species of vicious rat.)
To: BenLurkin
So that simply means we will be completely defenseless when a hostile foreign country weaponizes their robots. Just because YOU won’t, doesn’t mean they won’t.
4
posted on 10/06/2022 7:41:22 PM PDT
by Hodar
(A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.- Burroughs)
To: BenLurkin
I would expect that China signed the No Armed Robots pledge the first.
Because they are so trustworthy.
5
posted on 10/06/2022 7:43:17 PM PDT
by texas booster
(Join FreeRepublic’s Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer’s!)
To: BenLurkin
6
posted on 10/06/2022 7:43:51 PM PDT
by dynachrome
(“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.” Rand Paul)
To: BenLurkin
That means they are already operational.
7
posted on 10/06/2022 7:44:11 PM PDT
by E. Pluribus Unum
( We need to “build back better” on the bones and ashes of those forcing us to “Build Back Better.”)
To: BenLurkin
You are experiencing a car accident.
8
posted on 10/06/2022 7:44:37 PM PDT
by DannyTN
To: BenLurkin
You are experiencing a car accident.
9
posted on 10/06/2022 7:44:37 PM PDT
by DannyTN
To: BenLurkin
They will just sell the military a “weaponizable” version and subcontractors will handle the messy details.
10
posted on 10/06/2022 7:47:10 PM PDT
by Mr. Jeeves
([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
If it can be weaponized, it will be weaponized.
Computers alone have been weaponized to manipulate and take advantage. Ethics are a Potemkin facade with ᶢ∞ᶢᴸᴱ & ᶠᴬᶜᴱᴮ∞ᴷ. Computerized mechanisms will manipulate and take advantage with mechanical means: force.
11
posted on 10/06/2022 7:47:50 PM PDT
by Tellurian
(Your phone is your cattle tag.)
To: BenLurkin
Also, a decent movie (Philip K. Dick based. “Second Variety”) with the guy who played ‘Robocop’.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114367/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
“Screamers”
A military commander stationed off planet during an interplanetary war travels through the devastated landscape to negotiate a peace treaty, but discovers that the primitive robots they built to kill enemy combatants have gained sentience.
12
posted on 10/06/2022 7:48:05 PM PDT
by dynachrome
(“We cannot save Ukraine by dooming the US economy.” Rand Paul)
To: BenLurkin
Too late. The first human to be killed by a robot was in 1979.
https://www.grunge.com/1020405/the-true-story-of-the-first-human-killed-by-a-robot/
13
posted on 10/06/2022 7:52:08 PM PDT
by T.B. Yoits
To: BenLurkin
Heckuva time to get all preachy with the technology/ethics thing.
That’s like AI people swearing it will never be used to recognize faces.
14
posted on 10/06/2022 7:52:13 PM PDT
by SpaceBar
To: BenLurkin
“Some leading robot makers are pledging not to weaponize them”
but not all … besides the chinese have probably already done it … the russkies would if they could buy the electronics, which they can’t right now …
15
posted on 10/06/2022 7:57:05 PM PDT
by catnipman
(In a post-covid world, ALL “science” is now political science: stolen elections have consequences)
To: BenLurkin
If you want Skynet, this is how you get Skynet.
16
posted on 10/06/2022 8:02:53 PM PDT
by VTenigma
(Conspiracy theory is the new “spoiler alert”)
To: BenLurkin
When Google started out there motto was “don’t be evil” or something to that effect, but as you can see that didn’t work out. Too much money in being evil, and Google wasn’t about to give that up. And neither will these robotic makers.
17
posted on 10/06/2022 8:03:07 PM PDT
by jimwatx
To: BenLurkin
I, for one, look forward to the day when the Hot Crazy matrix is overweighted in the top right corner due to the abundance of slightly maniacle fantasy robots.
18
posted on 10/06/2022 8:10:21 PM PDT
by DannyTN
To: BenLurkin
Meaningless. There is this thing called the aftermarket, and there are these other things called hackers.
The future is full of killer robots, don’t doubt for a second.
19
posted on 10/06/2022 8:12:37 PM PDT
by JustaTech
(A mind is a terrible thing)
To: BenLurkin
Where is Susan Calvin when we need her?
20
posted on 10/06/2022 8:14:31 PM PDT
by asinclair
(What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger)
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