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Memorandum of Transmittal
To: Prof. Li Hui
Chair of the special committee on Automatic and Robotics.
From: Rashmika De Alwis
Research assistant
Date: 17 August 201614 September 2015
Subject: Should Humans Fear Robots?
__________________________________________________________________________________
As required by your memo of .18/8/2015, an investigation was carried out to assess
the advantages and disadvantages of the development of fully autonomous weapons
or “killer robots” to be submitted at IACSIT (the International Association of
Computer Science and Information Technology) 2016 general meeting.
The report is based on research articles sourced from international peer reviewed
journals and on information disseminated through DAPRA, the US agency that
oversees many development programs.
This report also highlights possible relevant scenarios within the Science Fiction field
as per the speculative nature of this field of research. In addition, the report also
highlights the lapses in current international laws with regard to the future of the
developments of the field in relation to human security. This segment is discussed
under recommendations.
Please do not hesitate to refer back to me if there are concerns or any queries on this
report.
Should Humans Fear Robots?
A report prepared by Automatic and Robotics. For the International Association of
Computer Science and Information Technology
Prepared by: Rashmika De Alwis
Reviewed by: Anne Lochead
Tutor: Anne Lochead
Paper: 159:177
Date: 12/09/2015
Abstract
The current trends of AI development particularly by military super powers and their
aspirations are giving rise to concerns on these developments by eminent scientists
such as Steven Hawking. These concerns are particularly heightened by the absence
of international laws such as the Geneva Convention that does not provide for
safeguards to protect human civilization. Nor have these developments considered
ethics and human rights as is practiced by other scientific fields such as medicine.
This paper highlights the drawbacks as well as the advantages at present in
developing AI.
i
Table of contents
1. Introduction………………………………………………………………..1
1.1. Background and Research Method…………………………………………..1
1.2. Assumptions and Limitations………………………………………………….1
2. Discussion and Findings……………………………………………….2
2.1. The present and future research………………………………………………2
2.1.1. Present Works of AI and robots……………………………………...2
2.1.2. 2.1.2. Current research in the creation of Super AI (SAI) …..3
2.2. Current direction and development of AI………………………………….4
2.3. Benefits too humans by developing AI………………………………………4
2.4. Disadvantages and drawbacks of military developing AI…………….4
2.4.1. Risks posed by military robots…………………………………………4
2.4.2. Sci-Fi scenarios………………………………………………………………5
3. Conclusions…………………………………………………………………6
4. Recommendations……………………………………………………….7
4.1. Updating the Law………………………………………………………..…………7
4.2. Safeguards…………………………………………………………………………….7
5. References …………………………………………………………………8
6. Glossary ……………………………………………………………………11
ii
Rashmika De Alwis ID#12118201
SHOULD HUMANS FEAR ROBOTS?
pg. 1
1. Introduction:
1.1. Background and Research Method.
Military super power nations are using the same excuses that were used for the
development of nuclear weapons. Fully autonomous nuclear powered killer robots
can't be contained in bunkers; if they get it wrong it will be one of the greatest
mistake humankind will make and will cost humanity heavily.
This report contains up-to-date, current developments and the path taken in the
development of AI (artificial intelligence) /SAI (super artificial intelligence)
Robots.
The research sources for this report were mainly Massey University NZ library
Databases that has access to all the latest peer reviewed journals and articles.
The recommendations provided in this report are to assist in finding ways to
assure that Killer Robots – do not threaten the human race.
1.2. Assumptions and Limitations.
An Assumption of this report is that development of AI/SAI will continue
exponentially as stated by mathematicians and futurists such as Ray Kurzweil,
John von Neumann, R. Thornton, Eliezer Yudkowsky and some Si-Fi films that
are highly accurate in their predictions.
A limitation of the report is that most of the work done on the SAI is highly secret
government work which cannot be known until a sudden break into the public
arena.
As John von Neumann (1958) says,
“Let an ultra-intelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all
the intellectual activities of any man however clever. Since the design of machines
is one of these intellectual activities, an ultra-intelligent machine could design
even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence
explosion’, and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus the first
ultra-intelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make.”
This is known today as Technological singularity.
Commented [A1]: If you use double quote marks for the quote, use single quote marks for embedded quotes.
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SHOULD HUMANS FEAR ROBOTS?
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2. Discussion and Findings
2.1. The present and future research
2.1.1. Present Works of AI and robots
These are some of the main functions of AIs today. Its dominating of research is
also the main reason leading to Steven Hawkins and Elon Musk’s fears.
The oldest and most productive is Watson, a ground AI with minimal servers. It
can be called a SAI with restrains such as access to memory and processing power
forcefully limited but online. It has enabled’ people develop hard- to- build
applications with its limited capacities and it is still able to rewrite programs
(Ericfein, 2014).
Distributed Agile Submarine Hunting (DASH) is a US government sponsored
program with development phases still fully functioning. Autonomous AI systems
of boats like mini ships will hunt for submarines and will take turns to track
submarines (Sullivan, S. 2015).
X-47B is part of long running series of x planes. What makes this different is that
its nearly autonomous machines are not yet fully intelligent but more than capable
of self-refuelling, self- flying and picking targets provided through data bases on
the ground. However, robots will not check for accuracy and will launch their
missiles and kill anyone once they find their target even though the information
could be false or incorrect. (Dillow, C, 2013)All x planes are development test
planes; once the test phase is over the plane retires and improved versions are
introduced to the US armed forces. .
These autonomous systems with a SAI are made on ground. Should a
malfunctioning program or a hack take place, they would make Terminator
movies a reality.
Most current robots can run with an algorithm that will allow them evolutionary
behaviours such as changes to environment.
This algorithm can be used in the future with highly capable robots which is the
time the threat will emerge (Adami C, 2015).
Commented [A2]: ‘Employment’ would be a better word here.
Commented [A3]: Remove this paragraph break because you are still talking about x planes.
Commented [A4]: Remove this one, too.
Commented [A5]: I’m not sure what this means, but I’ll trust that you do.
Commented [A6]: Remove break – you continue talking about algorithms.
Rashmika De Alwis ID#12118201
SHOULD HUMANS FEAR ROBOTS?
pg. 3
Currently large funds for research on robotics and SAI/AI come from government
and military forces.
2.1.2. Current research in the creation of Super AI (SAI)
An overview on some of the most ambitious research and projects underway to
make the creation of Super AI (SAI) a possibility include the brain initiative
that was initiated by President Obama himself and later allocated to DARPA
(Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency). The brain initiative includes
digitizing the human brain (Collins & Prabhakar, 2013).
The Brain initiative can also find cures for Parkinson’s, brain related injuries and
reduce language barriers in how computers interface with human thought.
Viewing how DARPA is going forward with building SAI systems, I found that they
are very excited and will continue for years rather than give up till they find a
system that will think for itself, search anything and everything around the world
from all databases and the internet to learn for itself to produce results for them
(DARPA, 2015).
Government sources briefly describe what Probabilistic programming for
advancing machine learning (PPAML )stands for; to increase the speed and lessen
the cost of developing AI for many new and different applications that are
impossible to conceive using today’s technology (Jegannathan, 2015).
This work will set the ground for not just efficient AI development but also give
access to hackers and those who wish to harm others.
This can be considered one of the most irresponsible works done by the US
government, as this is like educating the world on how to make nuclear bombs
child's play or giving open access to CDC Top Secret levels that harbour the most
Dangerous Biology known to man.
One of the spin offs from the brain initiative program with the most potential but
which is also disturbing is Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable
Electronics (SyNAPSE), to develop extremely tiny computers that can still carry
extremely large volumes of data and also make large processes using very tiny
amounts of power.
Commented [A7]: Is this a quote? Why is it indented?
Commented [A8]: Should this be ‘when’?
Commented [A9]: DARPA seems to be very excited as it goes forward with building SAI systems, suggesting they will continue for years rather than give up until they find a system that will think for itself and search all databases and the internet to learn for itself to produce results.
Commented [A10]: What do the letters stand for?
Commented [A11]: No paragraph break.
Commented [A12]: No paragraph break.
Commented [A13]: No paragraph break.
Rashmika De Alwis ID#12118201
SHOULD HUMANS FEAR ROBOTS?
pg. 4
By this program they hope to create Nanos similar to human Nanoscale structure
like brain cell neurons system computers (Pratt, 2015).
2.2. Current direction and development of AI
Currently the predominant direction in AI development is in the military and
government law enforcement (Russel, Hauert, Altman, & Veloso, 2015). Killer AI
Robots enables government loopholes to bypass human rights laws, international
laws and the constitutional laws, permitting anything being done by the workings
of AI (Dillow, 2013). Proliferation is also a real threat as not all humans are ethical
or think twice about implications of releasing such technology.
2.3. Benefits to humans by developing AI
Benefits from the Brain initiative include finding cures for Parkinson’s, brain
related injuries and reduce language barriers in how computers interface with
human thought (DARPA, 2014).
All beneficial AI related Programs are in the medical field such as assistance in
hospitals to monitor and administer proper medication dosage (Liao, 2015),
administering correct amounts of radiation during scans, assisting in extremely
delicate and hard surgeries (Guardian, 2015) and finding drugs to cure cancer
(Cohen, Dr P 2014). These robotic AI are limited to one type of work, grounded,
isolated from networks and this method is more beneficial in the long run.
2.4. Disadvantages and drawbacks of military developing
AI.
2.4.1. Risks posed by military robots
As the military will be developing its AI units with SAI in command that include
large swarms or numbers of robots, there are several worst case scenarios that
can take place when such systems go online.
Firstly, ease of hacking by outside forces and to send AI armies to destroy their
enemies’ cities. Secondly, involving the SAI stumbling into one of many top
secret documents incorrectly documented or marketed as a real world scenario.
The SAI should see this as a threat to its existence and take action against it
resulting in another Terminator judgement day scenario.
Commented [A14]: I’m not sure what this means. Could you just say: ‘The government uses loopholes to bypass…’
Rashmika De Alwis ID#12118201
SHOULD HUMANS FEAR ROBOTS?
pg. 5
2.4.2. Sci-Fi scenarios envisioned
Digitising the human brain will allow future AI to analyse the human brain far
better and allow it to redesign itself with more intelligence to create consciences
that involve fear and anger, emotions that took humans millenniums to master.
Such growth will allow it to self-evolve and go online, The AI once it has self-
realized, will find that human logic and ethics are flawed and try to correct it by
force which then will be met by force creating chaos.
Other Sci-Fi scenarios include Doctor Who regarding Cyber Men machines
taking over human bodies. The SyNAPSE project will make that child's play for
any SAI that’s under development. Once SyNAPSE objects become a fashion
most humans will take to them for their promises of longevity and super powers
as the ability to link to the internet without sitting in front of a screen will
enable streaming to the brain by wireless medium.
When the SAI sees that a majority of the population is fully integrated with
SyNAPSE components, it will initiate a full takeover of those human bodies and
make obedient slaves out of them that will probably work better than some
syntactic robots a SAI can mass produce to do its HQ work.
Commented [A15]: No paragraph break.
Commented [A16]: This is plural because ‘objects’ is plural.
Rashmika De Alwis ID#12118201
SHOULD HUMANS FEAR ROBOTS?
pg. 6
3. Conclusions
Yes, we should fear SAI robots as thrill seeking scientists and ambitious politicians
are taking a suicidal path.
The thrill of scientists in the field of technology is partly to blame for the rise
of fears of killer robots and SAI.
Medical and chemical scientists go through strict training, education and take
an oath that when broken can be held accountable under law.
This should be same for teams of scientists pursuing weapons of mass
destruction, chemical or nuclear No such compulsory education or oath exist
in the technological science front.
If one says that AI flawed today and their logic might threaten them that
might be because human ethics is flawed i.e. the creators of the AI.
AI or SAI that's designed by humans will always be flawed as the
programming and the specifications designed into the AI will be by a group of
people with flawed logic. If humans are not to fail miserably when SAI goes
online all humans on earth would need to go through an overnight ethics
revolution. Unfortunately such things take centuries.
“Once the machine thinking method has started, it would not take long to outstrip
our feeble powers. … At some stage therefore we should have to expect the machines
to take control, in the way that is mentioned in Samuel Butler’s Erewhon” (Alan
Turing).
Commented [A17]: No break here.
Commented [A18]: This is really a recommendation.
Commented [A19]: This could be stated more succinctly: Human flaws in logic and ethics are replicated in Ai or SAI programming and specifications.
Rashmika De Alwis ID#12118201
SHOULD HUMANS FEAR ROBOTS?
pg. 7
4. Recommendations
4.1. Updating the Law
There is clear urgent need to update all international laws and the Geneva
Convention laws in military conflict. AI research breaks all kinds of laws, human
rights and constitutional rights (Paulius, 2015). AI actions need to be held
accountable humans who create and order them. Therefore, present laws, where
most governments and organisations by- pass loopholes and stay unchallenged,
need to change (Balkin, 2015). These laws should clearly differentiate between all
developments of AI/SAI autonomous AI and network link AI working with other
AI.
4.2. Safeguards
It is extremely important that all SAI are developed and are answerable to not one
human but a group of highly professional people from all backgrounds. This way
no decisions can be carried out without unanimous agreement; if one says no on a
vote for action to be carried out by SAI, the SAI will not be able to carry out that
order.
Restrict server accesses are needed for higher processing power required for
achieving consciousness.
Asimov’s Laws of Robotics (Glossary 1) must be mandatory
These laws are written into the base code also known as the Asimov block.
(Word count: 1865) 1650
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pg. 8
5. References.
Adami, C (2015). Artificial intelligence: robots with instincts. Nature, 426(7),
521(7553).
Al Jazeera (Producer) (2011). [Robot online YouTube]. Military robot technology-full
length++ HD [Motion Picture].
Balkin, J. M. (2015). The path of robotics law. California Law review. Yale Law
School. Retrieved August 5, 2915, from http://ssrn.com/abstract=2586570
Baum, S. (2015). FLI artificial superintelligence project. Retrieved 2015, from
http://gcrinstitute.org/fli-artificial-superintelligence-project/
Clarke, R. (1994). Roger Clarke's "Asimov"s Law of Robotics. Retrieved 2015, from
Roger Clarke's Web-Site: www.rogerclarke.com.au/SOS/Asimov.html
Cohen, Dr P (2014) Big Mechanism, Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Collins, F., & Prabhakar, A. (2013, April 2). The White House- President Barack
Obama, Retrieved from Brain Initiative challenges: researchers to unlock mysteries
of human mind.
DARPA (2014). Darpa and the brain initiative. Defence Advanced Research Projects
Agency.
DARPA (Producer2015). Probabilistic programming for advancing machine learning
[Motion Picture].
Deng, B. (2015). The robot's dilemma: working out how to build ethical robots in one
of the thorniest challenges in artificial intelligence. Nature, 24(26), 523(7558).
Dillow, C. (2013, July). What the X-47B reveals about the future of autonomous
flight:five things you need to know about the X-47B, the US military's first
Rashmika De Alwis ID#12118201
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pg. 9
unmanned, autonomous combat jet. Popular Science. Retrieved 2015, from
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2013-05/five-things-you-need-
know-about-x-47b-and-coming-era-autonomous-flight
Ericfein (2014). Watson, the most powerful artificial intelligence goes public.
Wondergressive. Retrieved from http://wondergressive.com/watson-ai-goes-public/
Future of Life (n.d.). Autonomous weapons: an open letter for AI & robotics
researchers.
Garcia, D. (2015). Killer robots: why the US should lead the ban. Global Policy, 6, 57-
63.
Guardian. (2015). Google teams up with health firm to develop AI surgical robots.
Operating Theatre Journal, 12, 295.
Jegannathan, D. S. (2015). Probabilistic programming for advancing machine
learning (PPAML). Retrieved August 12 2015, from
http://www.darpa.mil/program/probabilistic-programming-for-advancing-
machine-Learning
Liao, P.-H. (2015). Applying artificial intelligence technology to support decision
making in nursing: a case study in Taiwan. Health Informatics Journal, 21(2), 137-
148.
Matt. (2015). Robots and AI. The Robotics Alliance Project. Retrieved from
http://robotics.nasa.gov/students/ai_robotics.php
Mittu, R., Taylor, G., Sofge, D., Lawless, W., & Chair, P. (n.d.). Foundations of
autonomy and its (cyber) threats: from individuals to interdependence. 2015 AAAI
Spring Symposium. California: AAAI Press.
NASA (ND), National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved from
Radioisotopes Power Systems: Radio Isotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG):solar
system.nasa.gov/rps/rtg/.cfm#mhw
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SHOULD HUMANS FEAR ROBOTS?
pg. 10
Paulius, A. (2015). Liability for damages caused by artificial intelligence. Computer
Law, 31(3), 376-389.
Pratt, Dr AG (2015). Systems of Neuromorphic adaptive plastic scalable electronics
(SyNAPSE). Retrieved 2015, from http://www.darpa.mil/program/systems-of-
neuromorphic-adaptive-plastic-scalable-electronics
Pratt, Dr GA (n.d.). Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM). Defence Advanced
Research Projects Agency. Retrieved August 2015, from
http://www.darpa.mil/program/autonomous-robotic-manipulation
Russel, S; Hauert, S; Altman, R & Veloso, M (2015). Robotics: ethics of artificial
intelligence. Nature.
Socrates. (2012, April). 17 Definitions of the Technological Singularity. Retrieved
from Singularity: www.singularityweblog.com/17-definitions-of-the-technological-
singularity/
Sullivan, S. (2015). Distributing agile submarine hunting (DASH). Retrieved from
http://www.darpa.mil/program/distributed-agile-submarine-hunting
Walz, J A (Producer), & Ealer, J (Director) (2014). US Military Top Secret Killer
Terminator Robots! Future Army Technology@DocumentaryVidz [Motion Picture]
History Channel.
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pg. 11
6. Glossary
6.1. Asimov’s Laws of Robotics
Minor AI as the basics that will hold back a robotic enslavement of humans.
The Meta-Law
A robot may not act unless its actions are subject to the Laws of Robotics
Law Zero
A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to
harm
Law One
A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being
to come to harm, unless this would violate a higher-order Law
Law Two
A robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders
would conflict with a higher-order Law
A robot must obey orders given it by superordinate robots, except where such
orders would conflict with a higher-order Law
Law Three
A robot must protect the existence of a superordinate robot as long as such
protection does not conflict with a higher-order Law
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not
conflict with a higher-order Law
Law Four
A robot must perform the duties for which it has been programmed, except where
that would conflict with a higher-order law
The Procreation Law
A robot may not take any part in the design or manufacture of a robot unless the
new robot's actions are subject to the Laws of Robotics
(Asimov. I. 1990)
Commented [A20]: This is an Appendix, not a Glossary.