Worldwide tech race ‘threat to our lives’
Robot in Terminator movies BRITAIN faces a threat from robots as the global tech race speeds up, the Defence Secretary warns.
Gavin Williamson speaks out today as a Ministry of Defence report highlights increased volatility worldwide and potential for wars fought using enhanced humans. He says: “This report makes clear that we are living in a world becoming rapidly more dangerous, with intensifying challenges from state aggressors who flout rules, terrorists who want to harm our way of life and the technological race with our adversaries.
“Identifying these threats means we can build an armed forces that can stay ahead of them.” The Future Starts Today report explored human enhancement, such as gene editing and prosthesis, which could “enhance military capability” over the next 30 years. It added: “Conflicts fought increasingly by robots or autonomous systems could change the very nature of warfare.” ■ Virus-carrying insects used to alter crops’ DNA in the US could be turned into biological weapons by terrorists, scientists warn.