Fully Autonomous Weapon Systems - The technology, capability and controversy of robots at war

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For all the changes we've seen in weapon systems, the role of humans as the key decision makers when it comes to the use of force has remained.

But what happens when machines develop to the point where they are increasingly able to perceive the battlefield and make that decision for themselves.

As the AI rush plays out, compute becomes cheaper and battlefield pressures play out, nations may face increasing pressure to unleash autonomous systems from their human handlers. So in this episode we discuss the potential of these systems, some of the advantages and pressures that might drive their development...and what the prospect for international regulation might be before the killer robots start to take the field in significant numbers.

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Caveats, Comments and Corrections:

All normal caveats and disclaimers apply

In particular – I would like to note as always that this material has been created for entertainment purposes and is not intended to be a complete or comprehensive examination of the topic in question and should not be relied upon to inform financial or other decisions or purposes

Sources & Reading (limited as I was ill – may update in coming week)

Submission by the Russian Federation – Approaches of the Russian Federation to the issue of emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems

https://docs-library.unoda.org/Conven...

Final report of the Panel of Experts on Libya established pursuant to Security Council resolution 1973 (2011) – Dated 8 March 2021
https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/ge...

DoD FY 2024 Budget Estimates – Air Force – RDT&E
https://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/Portals/8...

USNI – Defense Primer: U.S. Policy on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems
https://news.usni.org/2022/11/17/defe...

CRS report referenced above
https://www.documentcloud.org/documen...

CRS - International Discussions Concerning Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems
https://crsreports.congress.gov/produ...

Small drones will soon lose combat advantage, French Army chief says
https://www.defensenews.com/global/eu...

IAI – Harpy Anti-Radiation Autonomous Weapon
https://www.iai.co.il/p/harpy
https://www.iai.co.il/sites/default/f...

Epoch AI piece on GPU performance
https://epochai.org/blog/trends-in-gp...

Kangaroos vs Self Driving Cars
https://www.theguardian.com/technolog...

Javglevskaja & Liivoja - Balancing the lopsided debate on autonomous weapon systems
https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/bal...

Drone image source
https://www.spslandforces.com/story/?...

Timestamps:
00:00 — Opening Words
00:47 — What Am I Talking About?
03:19 — The Emergence Of Autonomy
07:15 — Human Out Of The Loop Operation
13:33 — Tactical Advantages And Application
22:25 — Pressures For Deployment
32:04 — A Path Towards Regulation?
45:36 — Channel Update