Warnings of terror and lack of control at AI weapons conference
Published: Monday, Apr 29th 2024, 13:20
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A conference on the international control of autonomous weapons has begun with warnings about the use of such systems by terrorists and war criminals. There is currently no guarantee that these artificial intelligence-powered systems will not fall into the wrong hands.
This was said by the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, on Monday in Vienna. "That is why it is so important to act, and to act very quickly," she said. The meeting of diplomats and experts from around 150 countries, organized by Austria, is intended to bring momentum to the long-standing efforts to regulate autonomous weapons. Over the past ten years, expert talks at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva had not led to any diplomatic negotiations on a set of rules. "Technology is advancing rapidly and diplomacy is not keeping up," warned Austria's Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg. "This is the Oppenheimer moment of our generation," he said, alluding to the eponymous "father" of the atomic bomb and the start of the nuclear arms race.
Weapon systems that can independently select or engage targets with the help of artificial intelligence are currently at the center of attention due to the conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine. According to Israel's army, it is using an AI-supported system that can suggest many possible targets in a short space of time. According to media reports and information from diplomatic circles, Ukraine uses drones that use AI to find their target even if their radio control is electronically jammed by Russia. Estonian IT investor and risk researcher Jaan Tallinn pointed out in a speech that the use of AI in conflict regions obviously does not help to reduce the number of deaths and injuries. "You can predict that autonomy in weapons will simply prolong wars because it will be cheaper to kill opponents," he said. While a number of countries have so far shown themselves open to principles or a non-binding code of conduct on autonomous weapons, Russia has spoken out against rapid restrictions in this area and against talks outside the Geneva Group of Experts. Nevertheless, the debates held in Vienna are to be included in a planned report by UN Secretary-General António Guterres for the next United Nations General Assembly.
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