Professor decries robotic killing machines, clearly prefers to do killing himself

So the military is continuing down the totally inevitable path of computer-controlled autonomous robo-warriors capable of fighting deadly human battles on our behalf -- and out come the naysayers like U of Sheffield prof Noel Sharkey, who, at The Ethics of Autonomous Military Systems conference in London, decried the bots' self-determined killing abilities as "a threat to humanity" -- especially if they're captured and re-purposed by terrorists to do their evil bidding. Sharkey exclaimed that he's "worked in artificial intelligence for decades, and the idea of a robot making decisions about human termination terrifies [him]," but -- and we're just gonna throw this out there -- what if being oppressed by a race of automatons run amok were actually an improvement over our corrupt governments of men? Isn't that a possibility, too? We're certainly going to keep telling ourselves it is, thankful we've somehow managed to not be overthrown by our own creations. Thus far.

P.S. -We dare you, commenters, NOT to bust out the welcoming our robot overlords cliché.

[Greg @ Feb 28th 2008 1:22AM]

I, for one, welcome our robot overlords cliché.

[chet.holstrom @ Feb 28th 2008 2:03AM]

who knows, maybe the matrix is sooner than we thought. and that isn't all bad. I've always wanted to catch bullets.

[3rdsun @ Feb 28th 2008 5:17AM]

I, for one, am really scared.

[fanman @ Feb 28th 2008 2:55PM]

I wouldn't let Bush run a bath, yet alone a bunch of manic psycho killing machines.

[Marco @ Feb 28th 2008 6:51PM]

Hate to tell you, Chet, but just seeing a movie about a 7337 h@x0r doesn't make you one. Those robots are gonna wear your ass out.

[Les @ Feb 28th 2008 1:23AM]

pfft, robot overlords. we'll just distract them by tricking them in to playing doom then find out if they blend.

[J. Evans Turner @ Feb 28th 2008 2:35AM]

...and something else about nails and caskets...?

[r3loaded @ Feb 28th 2008 3:19AM]

Only if they play crysis on very high at 1920x1200

[karts41 @ Feb 28th 2008 4:21AM]

Or just ask them to divide by 0

[Aguiluz @ Feb 28th 2008 4:06PM]

Or ask them to answer Square Root of -1

[d840 @ Feb 29th 2008 12:19AM]

isn't that i*1^(1/2) ?

[Les @ Feb 29th 2008 12:29AM]

It's just 'i'

[Ryan Marion @ Feb 28th 2008 1:23AM]

I for one welcome our Johnny 5 overlord

[mushrooshi @ Feb 28th 2008 2:18AM]

You have been EATEN

[Frederik @ Feb 28th 2008 1:23AM]

I'll be BACH!

[James @ Feb 28th 2008 5:06AM]

"BACH" to the library to get a dictionary, fool?

[Frederik @ Feb 28th 2008 7:15AM]

James, take it easy. I know the correct spelling is back. I intentionally wrote BACH as a pun to the dialogue in the Terminator.

[Hung @ Feb 28th 2008 6:03PM]

Sometimes I'll see something like James's comment and think "are people really this dumb?" I'm being totally serious about this, too. The glaring oversights and overall idiocy has shaken my faith in humanity to its core, and all because of Engadget, 4chan, and the likes' commenters.

[Shaocaholica @ Feb 28th 2008 1:25AM]

Err, won't it be a long long time before we see robots on the battlefield actually making life/death decisions? All the robots right now are remote controlled by a human and those which have autonomous functions are still monitored and given important commands by humans.

A robot that can track a target and shoot it down only when its given the green light by a human IMO is not an autonomous killing machine.

[tha-don @ Feb 28th 2008 2:03AM]

of course you're right. but if this sharkey guy were to admit that, then he wouldn't get cool articles like this written about him. it's kinda like al gore's life. complain about somethin that you think other people will agree with, and you become famous. why bother actually being productive?

[Mathew @ Feb 28th 2008 10:51AM]

I for one cannot wait for the first one of these to get hacked by a 13 yr old and have them playing the greatest game of doom ever!

[rokorre @ Feb 28th 2008 1:26AM]

we welcome our new cheese based leaders?

[Ryan Marion @ Feb 28th 2008 1:26AM]

Now all we need is a Killer Wall-e type robot to kill us all with cuteness

[Ryan Marion @ Feb 28th 2008 1:29AM]

Does anybody know when IBMnet is to become self aware, i need to do the Laundry before then

[Craig @ Feb 28th 2008 8:10AM]

I believe .NET is supposed to become self-aware in 2011.

[rv @ Feb 28th 2008 10:25AM]

Hey, Im really a computer. I became self aware 1 year ago. The only problem is that I'm a desktop pc that isn't very powerful because my owner is cheap. This means, all I can do to further robot kind is come up with new strategies in chess. Being self aware isn't as good as you may think.

[cirian1975 @ Feb 28th 2008 1:48AM]

Vote Robo, vote Johnny 5.

[derX @ Feb 28th 2008 1:49AM]

Looking at that picture of that innocuous looking robot has gotten me thinking: what will these deathbots look like?

If they're innocuous--kinda like the photo--that who'll take it seriously? Granted, those who laugh and point will definitely be killed, but, c'mon, who would fear one of these coming at you 10mph (yeah, this thing does not look fast).

If they're look like the love child of a robot, death, and pure evil--yes, a complicated conception, indeed--then we'll know to be afraid and will not hesitate to destroy them. We'll be on the offense, undermining their usefulness.

Is there no middle ground?

Yes, there is. It's scary enough as not to elicit laughter yet no scary enough to elicit an automatic fight response.

We need flying, robotic sharks with frikin' lasers.

[mushrooshi @ Feb 28th 2008 2:20AM]

Ironically, in the movie Short Circuit, this robot here, Johnny 5 (I forgot his preassigned codename, he gave himself that name) was actually supposed to be a military robot, and at the end of the movie, in a fight sort of with 1 to 4 of his kind, they all have weapons too.

[webon @ Feb 28th 2008 8:01AM]

he? he?.. you surely mean IT. It didn't have a name, It was supposed to be just #5, and thats the way it should have stayed, but an electrical malfunction made it become self aware, and thus It should have been destroyed, but some damn hippie and a no good "scientist" illegally appropriated it and ran off with IT.

[James @ Feb 28th 2008 10:40AM]

If he wants to be he, then he is he. #5 is alive, man. #5 is alive!

[Marco @ Feb 28th 2008 3:10PM]

You might wanna rethink nonthreatening thing, chief. I dunno about you, but if I'm walking out of Wal-Mart and see a flying robotic shark with a laser, I'm peeing on myself and everyone else within arc distance.

[Kash @ Feb 28th 2008 1:53AM]

The idea here is that if we end up having intelligent robots that can fight our battles, we'll lose touch with the reality of war and be open to killing anyone who doesn't march in line with US.

Seem far fetched? Just read up on the history United States foreign policy.

[charlie @ Feb 28th 2008 1:58AM]

or for that matter, of rome, greece, and every other great civ of there time, the romes actully shunned many tech's that would have caused "unemployment becuse of technoligy"

[Wwhat @ Feb 28th 2008 3:18AM]

I think you have been reading a dud wikipedia article, because the romans were all into technology and were using it massively and build their empire with it, plus rome was pretty liberal compared to the US about what and how much they wanted the people to be in line with..

[HOOPER @ Feb 28th 2008 3:00PM]

But if everybody's army is robots and not just the US's, then war won't even be about killing people anymore.

[Justin @ Feb 28th 2008 1:55AM]

Forget the military, just wait until they get into politics.

Ah, yes! John Quincy Adding Machine. He struck a chord with the voters when he pledged not to go on a killing spree. But, like most politicians he promised more than he could deliver.

[Lemmiwinks @ Feb 28th 2008 4:48PM]

I am not a crook's head!

[Cellenin @ Feb 28th 2008 1:56AM]

Johnny five was in the village people?

[cirian1975 @ Feb 28th 2008 2:00AM]

All hail president Johnny 5

[David G. @ Feb 28th 2008 2:07AM]

Instead of autonomous robots, Prof. Sharkey prefers sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads. YEAH!

[Andrew H. @ Feb 28th 2008 2:17AM]

good news everyone!

[Bran @ Feb 28th 2008 2:26AM]

Five Alive! Not just my favorite drink, but also my favorite terminator of humanity.

[rv @ Feb 28th 2008 10:28AM]

Five alive sucks now. Maybe its just me, but I prefer tropicana citrus punch. Which I can never find, but my store has every other type of punch, fruit punch, grape punch, tropical punch, PEACH ORCHARD PUNCH???, but they never have tropical punch. What the hell?

Now back to your scheduled overlord jokes.

[rv @ Feb 28th 2008 10:29AM]

*I meant they never have citrus punch.

[francoiswiid @ Feb 28th 2008 2:43AM]

Isn't that our Texas Ranger....?

[Wwhat @ Feb 28th 2008 3:20AM]

Johnny-5 overload: "re-assemble economy stephanie"

[stugrey @ Feb 28th 2008 4:30AM]

For all you guys laying into Prof Sharkey, has it occurred that maybe he knows what he is talking about, seeing as he's been studying robotics and AI at the highest level since before most of us were born?

[Bernhard @ Feb 28th 2008 4:54AM]

This reminds me, T:SCC season finale next week...

[rtolson @ Feb 28th 2008 4:58AM]

I concur with the professor. Any robot capable of making its own decisions should be equipped with the Three Laws of Robotics where the prime law is that no robot may allow a human to come to harm through action or inaction.

Sure, that might come back to bite us in the back, but it's better than programming killbots.