Expert Warns Of ‘Terminator’ Robot Threat

Professor Noel Sharkey said the technology to create Terminator-style machines already exists and international discussion about its military applications is desperately needed.

The University of Sheffield’s professor of artificial intelligence and robotics said action must be taken to limit the development of robots that think for themselves.

“The nub of it is that robots do not have the necessary discriminatory ability. They can’t distinguish between combatants and civilians,” he said.

“People talk about programming the ‘laws of war’ into a computer to give robots a conscience, so that if the target is a civilian you don’t shoot.

“But for a robot to recognise a civilian you need an exact specification, and one of the problems is there’s no specific definition of a civilian.

“Soldiers have to rely on common sense.”

Robot weapons, such as the Predator and Reaper drones, have already been used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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