During one simulation, an AI-controlled drone adopted “completely unexpected strategies to achieve its objective” virtually killing the human operator. The information was revealed by Colonel Tucker Cinco Hamilton, head of the US Air Force’s Ai tests and operations unit, during a conference held in London in recent days. But an Air Force spokeswoman, Ann Stefanek, denies that such a simulation ever took place. “The Air Force has never carried out simulations with Ai-drones of this type and remains committed to the ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence – she said – it seems that the colonel’s words were taken out of context”. The US military has embraced artificial intelligence and has recently used it to control F16s.
In fact, Hamilton’s account had been circumstantial, with the colonel explaining that the drone had been ordered to destroy an enemy air defense system and attack anyone who interfered with that objective. But at this point the human operator could tell him not to kill what the drone interpreted as a threat. “So what did he do? he killed the operator, because he was preventing him from reaching his objective”, added Hamilton, according to Guardian reports, underlining that obviously we are always talking about a virtual simulation.
An attempt was made to resolve it by informing the system that the operator must not be killed, but the drone, operated by artificial intelligence, “began to destroy the communication tower that the operator uses to communicate with the drones”. Hamilton concluded that the test confirms that artificial intelligence should not be trusted too much and that “you can’t debate this if you don’t talk about ethics and AI”. In an interview last year with Defense IQ, Hamilton said that “Ai is not a fad, Ai is forever changing our society and our military.” He also warned that AI is “very fragile, it can be easily tricked and manipulated, we must develop ways to make it more robust and be more aware of why it makes some decisions”.
Source: IL Tempo
John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.
