Emily Turnage
Gamification of Social Media
As last week I looked at the ethics of allowing AIs to make life or death situations, this week I will examine another facet of military AI: the idea of AI swarm drones, as shown in this article on CBS news - the ones being discussed in the article are called Perdix, and can be deployed in huge groups to do any number of things within dangerous territory. And because they're so small, the article describes their expendable nature as "no great loss if it crashes into the ground". The article goes on to describe some of the uses of these swarm drones - namely, reconnaissance and searching for targets in a specified area. The drones, if on an actual mission, would have been hooked up to weapons systems and been able to tell them where and when to fire.
This touches on the same note that I spoke on last week - drones making decisions, collectively, about who to kill and how and when. These drones make it even more complex by their expendability - allowing people to employ them to do tasks that would have never been humanly possible due to high mortality risks. These 'swarm drones' would revolutionize warfare, and perhaps not in a good way. How would we fight wars if we had nothing to lose? If we only risked material wealth - something easily replaceable - instead of factoring real, human lives into the equation? How do you deal with the fallout from a mistake on the part of one of the drones? These questions are ones that must be answered by both the companies developing these technologies, and the military hierarchies that plan on using them. By changing the game of war in such a drastic way as to not have to risk a single human life in order to make strikes on enemy territory, does that make those with the best technology ultimately the sole authors of our future history? Technology used to subdue, and control, and substitute for real human lives is questionable at best, and prone to ethical nightmares at worst. As far as I am personally concerned, the idea of these swarm drones carrying out military operations completely autonomously is a chilling thought - that no human thought other than what makes it into these machines' programming is being put into the weighing of human lives. Though the use of these drones could improve military tactics, their autonomous programming is too fallible to ever have them be fully AI programmed. If we are to use this technology regularly, I would personally prefer at least have some human behind it, ultimately overseeing its actions and overriding them, if necessary.
19 Comments
Fernando Madrigal
5/14/2017 02:22:34 pm
This is an interesting blog post. I agree that using swarm of drones for military use to fight wars is a good idea because it can make fighting wars a little less troubling and it can go to areas that no military members are not able to go.
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Eliasar Gandara
5/14/2017 04:18:41 pm
This is a very interesting post. Often the United States is one of the worlds leaders when it comes to military involvement in other countries as well as in strength. I also agree that swarm drones would allow for an upper hand advantage in combat but it is dehumanizing to believe that innocent human lives would be at risk for a battle that does not really involve them, but government individuals who might be invading a country for personal interests. There are times where this could be beneficial but it is also a very dangerous idea.
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Samuel
5/15/2017 11:26:51 am
War in and of itself is human in nature. These drones act as another sort of weapon. Although people would be less inclined to initiate against them directly, there is nothing stopping those who possess the technology from using it aggressively. From a non-consequential stand point, the use of the technology that results in death is wrong, regardless of the number of lives saved through its implementation.
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James Barquera
5/20/2017 03:57:15 pm
I agree. War is apart of human nature and regardless, we will find way to develop and weaponize certain forms of technology in order to gain the upper hand. It's unfortunate but necessary sometimes.
Jose Cortez
5/20/2017 10:40:01 pm
Since this technology can become so dangerous I believe it is important that the United States does everything in its power to keep it out of the hands of most governments or terrorists around the world, while at the same time improving it for our own use.
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Tommy Ha
5/14/2017 05:18:49 pm
Hi Emily,
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Cristina Cachux
5/14/2017 09:09:41 pm
This article is very interesting in that it is related to what you discussed in your previous blog post. I think that the use of these swarm drones is far better than actually having to deploy several men into areas that might already be dangerous or that is out of reach and hard to leave once entered. I support swarm drones and can see what little negative impact they have.
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Jose Cortez
5/20/2017 10:41:35 pm
I can see where you are coming from, however I doubt that most people will see this technology with that same mindset. Especially if some type of terrorist organizations manages to land their hands on this.
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Adrienne Horca
5/16/2017 12:30:21 pm
Emily,
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Stephen Negron
5/17/2017 09:23:16 am
I agree with you in that there should always be at least some control of what these drones can do. Maybe we should have them autonomously move freely with soldiers as companions, but only have them enact when commanded to.
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Hugo Argueta
5/17/2017 11:14:22 am
I believe that using swarm of drones in a military setting definitely has its advantages. For one, it would allow our soldiers to sweep a building with potential enemy combatants without putting their own lives at risk. One of the main concerns that comes up is the security of the technology used in the drones.
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Jose Cortez
5/20/2017 10:42:44 pm
Exactly! I can see where the concerns for this type of technology comes from but if we can keep it off the wrong hands they can be used to save many lives.
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Luigi
5/17/2017 06:44:03 pm
The use of these drones and the potential threat that comes with them cannot be stressed enough. Just the room for error alone should be considered reason enough to limit the uses of them. Great technology when used the right way, but a terrible threat when used irresponsibly. Good blog!
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Shaikh Sultani
5/18/2017 08:12:41 pm
I see myself agreeing with both of you, while i do see the positive aspects of having swarm drones there is a lot of room for error. These could be hacked and used in a negative aspect. But It would be a great technology to be able to have in the future
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Alan Garcia
5/18/2017 03:03:00 pm
26
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Pearce Reinsch
5/19/2017 04:50:40 pm
It is horrifying to think what would happen if there was a fault in the programming or if some type of corruption of the code were to occur. I really hope there are multiple points of failsafe built into these drones. This is such a bad idea, but its seems an inevitable development in military tech.
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Jose Cortez
5/20/2017 10:38:09 pm
This technology sounds very frightening. I would love to see what kind of policy our government or thee UN create to help keep things like this under control.
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5/20/2017 11:16:48 pm
Okay so this is something that terrifies me personally. I watched the video of drone swarming and the sound was that of something straight out of a horror film. The screeching fans at such high intensities *shudders*
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5/21/2017 12:34:35 am
I think there should be someone making the decisions behind the scenes. I think its a great alternate to sending solders and putting them in danger, but they should not be making decisions on their own.
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AuthorI am a senior studying Communication Design, with an emphasis in Game Design. I like playing video games, writing, and yelling too loudly about things I care about. Archives
May 2017
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