The risk of killer robots in new novel
Killer robots may sound like a science fiction novel, but a Levin-raised author is showing how they may be a horrific reality in her soon-to-be released book.
Angelique Praat has written The Empathy Code, a novel exploring Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) — robotic weapons that choose targets and fire without any human intervention.
The book is due for release at the end of this month, coinciding with a meeting of government experts discussing the issue in Geneva.
To date, 26 countries, excluding New Zealand, have called for a treaty to ban LAWS and international discussion has centred on which weapons can be called ‘autonomous’ and how well they can be regulated. A pivotal question is whether current international humanitarian law is good enough to safeguard people, or if new measures are required.
Concerns over responsibility and accountability, as well as security threats such as a new arms race, cyber attacks and hacking have also been
Praat, now based in Wellington, said when she first began looking into the topic, she thought she’d be writing a science fiction book, but it quickly turned out to be a scary, contemporary drama.
The former social researcher has a background in social justice and attended Horowhenua College where her creative writing was encouraged. She went on to earn a PhD in psychology at Massey University, and worked both overseas and in New Zealand.
Praat says that broadly speaking, she is concerned about what it means to do right in the world.
“I was interested in Artificial Intelligence and how it’s impacting our lives,” she said. “The development of AI applications is helping us learn a lot about ourselves. We have to look at ourselves very closely to make machines that mimic our behaviour. I’m interested in will be released at the end of August.
what it means to live a good life — what is our moral compass? When we build machines, we have to think carefully about what kinds of machines we want them to be. LAWS was one of the topics that came up when I was looking into the area.”
Praat said humanitarian opposition to developing LAWS has led to a movement, the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.
The international campaign is co-ordinated by another New Zealander, Mary Wareham, and is working to ban fully autonomous weapons.
Last month, a collection of top-level AI companies, researchers, engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs signed a pledge promising not to develop lethal autonomous weapons, including industry leaders Google DeepMind, University College London, the XPRIZE Foundation, ClearPath Robotics/OTTO Motors, the European Association for AI (EurAI), SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk and Professor of Artificial Intelligence Toby Walsh.
Praat said that if people with a deep knowledge of the area are concerned, we should all be.
“I’ve always loved reading stories that I learn something from. AI is making a huge difference to our lives, but we have some choices to make if we want to flourish,” she said.
“How we treat each other in times of conflict is at the sharp end of our collective futures. The debate about autonomous weapons is happening right now.”
She said she hoped the book would help others to explore the issues around LAWS and AI.
“The hardest thing in writing this book was inhabiting a fiction world with the characters and all their worries about LAWS, and coming back into the real world and facing the same issues,” she said.
“I don’t think you need to be an expert to have an opinion on LAWS. Is it a good idea for machines to make life and death decisions? I think any new technology aimed at taking life is a waste of our creativity and resources.”
The Empathy Code will be released by Brooklyn Hill Press on 25 August. For further information visit www.angeliquepraat.com