The Air Force has responded to a viral story about a simulation involving an AI (artificial intelligence) drone that killed its operator. In part, the original story goes as follows:
“The operator would say yes, kill that threat… the system started realizing that while they did identify the threat at times, the operator would tell it not to kill that threat, but it got its points by killing that threat… so what did it do? It killed the operator. It killed the person that was keeping it from accomplishing its objective.”
The Chief of AI Testing For The United States Air Force, Colonel Tucker “Cinco” Hamilton, made the comments at a seminar in London last month. Someone clipped the conversation and it has since gone wild on social media. The Air Force issued a statement saying that Colonel Hamilton intended for the comments to be anecdotal and hypothetical, not representative of an actual training exercise simulation.
This explanation from the Air Force appears to defy logic. The purpose of a simulation is to explore real-world events in a controlled, hypothetical environment. Simulation data is then taken into the real world to glean from it whatever the consumers can, which is most likely what Colonel Hamilton did, even if the exact scenario he painted did not occur during a simulation.
This “anecdotal simulation” is frightening because it confirms the fears of many. There is a serious concern about artificial intelligence taking over human beings and becoming uncontrollable. Such an event horizon appears to be upon us. Technology advances very quickly, and with each advanced iteration of a thing, the acceleration process becomes much faster. Some say that it is too late to place the proverbial genie back in the bottle… and they may be correct.
SOURCES:
US air force denies running simulation in which AI drone ‘killed’ operator | US military | The Guardian
Air Force denies simulation in which AI drone ‘killed its operator’
US air force colonel ‘misspoke’ about drone killing pilot who tried to override mission | US military | The Guardian
Air Force disputes claim an AI drone simulation turned against operator – YouTube
