Fantasy risk — for now
But what about those killer drones — are they just a geeks’ fantasy?
They’re fictional, but don’t relax just yet.
Waikato University’s Dr Ryan Ko (pictured) says AI is still a way off killer robots being a reality, but then provides a link to a very scary video.
Called Slaughterbots ,it realistically and graphically shows how teams of tiny, fast-moving AI drones with facial recognition technology and anti-sniper capability, loaded with just three grams of explosive, could find and eliminate opponents identified through social media.
The real chill comes when Berkley professor and leading US computer scientist Stuart Russell comes on screen to say the scenarios are “more than speculation”.
“We have an opportunity to stop this but the window is closing,” he says.
Nor does Ko laugh it off. “It is thought provoking,” he says.