The Artificial Intelligence Arms Race: Trends and World Leaders in Autonomous Weapons Development

Abstract

Autonomous weapons technologies, which rely on artificial intelligence, are advancing rapidly and without sufficient public debate or accountability. Oversight of increased autonomy in warfare is critically important because this deadly technology is likely to proliferate rapidly, enhance terrorist tactics, empower authoritarian rulers, undermine democratic peace, and is vulnerable to bias, hacking, and malfunction. The top competitors in this arms race are the United States, China, Russia, South Korea, and the European Union.

Operations of power in autonomous weapon systems: ethical conditions and socio-political prospects

“…Alongside the growing appeal of legal grafting, it is countries' acceleration and increasing investments in AWS R&D that triggered the pro-ban movement. Early indications of this trend were clearly evident at the beginning of the 2010s (Haner and Garcia 2019). At around the same time that it became increasingly conceived that AWS could be 'developed within 20 to 30 years', the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots appeared (HRW 2012).…”

“…In line with the cases of APL and CM (Hynek 2018b), these are mainly dominant powers that have blocked the ban proposal (CSKR 2019a). As R&D and governmental spending accelerate in the field of AWS (Haner and Garcia 2019), little progress and even a degree of regress can be observed in the GGE. The diplomatic language of a few countries, including the US, Russia and Israel, is firmly fixed on the 'benefits' of AWS (Acheson 2018, p.1).…”

Redirect military budgets to tackle climate change and pandemics

“…Future military priorities are even further away from those of the people. As the planet heats, the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom are among countries developing AI-enhanced weapons that can search, track, target and potentially kill under the control of algorithms, not humans 13 . The United States committed $2 billion in 2018 to develop the next wave of AI technology by 2023.…”

Artificial Intelligence Development Strategy: Will Russia Achieve a Leading Position in the World?

“…В последнее десятилетие наблюдается устойчивое увеличение количества стартапов, патентов и публикаций по данной проблематике [1][2][3]. Многие государства стали активно поддерживать исследования в этой области, что дало основание зафиксировать «гонку за искусственным интеллектом» [4] и «гонку вооружений с искусственным интеллектом» [5]. Согласно Индексу искусственного интеллекта от Стэндфордского университета [6], по состоянию на август 2019 г. в различных странах мира имелось 52 стратегических документа по развитию искусственного интеллекта, а в пятнадцати странах зафиксирована их активная реализация.…”