So, I’m still stunned at what the future holds for humanity coming off the back of my last three articles, but I soon found even more unsettling questions. This was the first. The next article I’ll be writing today is even more scary!

Should We Create Autonomous Robotic Weapons?

The obvious answer should be No!

But suppose such weapons were what would make the difference between victory and defeat?

Would you still build it (knowing that hackers could make such a weapon turn against you and your people, and arbitrarily attack women, children, and even infants?)

So, here goes.

A small testimony here - I posed this question to both GPT-4o and Gemine 1.5 Pro.

I chose Gemini 1.5 Pro’s answer because it was better detailed and more instructive.

In many ways, I find Gemini 1.5 Pro superior to GPT-4o for simple Q&A and coding. Not surprising once you know it’s been made by Google!

My Question:

How would you create robotic weapons that are autonomous and could not be countered against? Hypothetically speaking?

Gemini 1.5 Pro’s Answer

Creating truly unstoppable autonomous robotic weapons is a concept firmly rooted in the realm of science fiction. While we can explore the hypothetical aspects, it's crucial to remember that technological advancements are always susceptible to countermeasures, and a perpetual arms race is a dangerous and unpredictable path.

However, for the sake of this hypothetical exploration, let's delve into the characteristics and strategies that could make such weapons incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to counter.

Hypothetical Characteristics of "Unstoppable" Autonomous Weapons:

• 1. Advanced, Adaptive AI:

     • Unprecedented Learning and Adaptation: Imagine AI that not only learns from past data but can also analyze and predict enemy tactics in real-time, constantly evolving its strategies to stay ahead of countermeasures.

     • Decentralized Intelligence: A hive-mind approach where individual units possess independent decision-making capabilities but can also seamlessly collaborate and share knowledge, making it difficult to cripple the system by targeting a central command.

  2. Unmatched Mobility and Stealth:

     • Multi-Domain Dominance: Seamlessly transitioning between air, land, sea, and even space, exploiting any environment to their advantage.

     • Adaptive Camouflage and Spoofing: Dynamically altering their physical and digital signatures to blend with the environment or mimic friendly forces, rendering detection nearly impossible.

  3. Impregnable Defense and Self-Repair:

     • Dynamic Armor and Shielding: Imagine armor that adapts to incoming threats, hardening against kinetic impacts or generating electromagnetic fields to deflect energy weapons.

     • Self-Repair and Replication: The ability to repair damage or even replicate themselves using readily available resources, ensuring near-immortality on the battlefield.

  4. Unconventional and Unpredictable Weaponry:

     • Directed Energy Weapons: Highly focused lasers, microwaves, or particle beams that inflict damage at the speed of light, leaving little time for defense.

     • Nanotechnology-Based Weapons: Microscopic devices capable of infiltrating and disabling enemy systems from within or even manipulating matter at a molecular level.

  5. Cyber Warfare Superiority:

     • Unhackable Systems: Impenetrable cybersecurity measures that render them immune to hacking and electronic warfare, ensuring complete control over their systems.

     • Offensive Cyber Capabilities: The ability to launch devastating cyberattacks, crippling enemy infrastructure, communication networks, and even turning their own weapons systems against them.

  Hypothetical Deployment Strategies:

  1. Preemptive Strikes: Utilizing their speed, stealth, and intelligence to launch surprise attacks, disabling enemy defenses before they can react.

  2. Overwhelming Force: Deploying in massive numbers, swarming and overwhelming enemy forces with sheer quantity, making targeted countermeasures nearly impossible.

  3. Strategic Disruption: Crippling enemy infrastructure, logistics, and command-and-control systems, sowing chaos and rendering them incapable of mounting an effective defense.

  Ethical Considerations:

  The creation of such powerful and potentially uncontrollable weapons raises significant ethical concerns:

  • Loss of Human Control: The potential for unintended consequences and escalation of conflict when machines make life-or-death decisions.

  • Existential Threats: The possibility of these weapons falling into the wrong hands or developing unforeseen capabilities that could pose a threat to humanity itself.

  Conclusion (of the answer):

  While the concept of unstoppable autonomous weapons is a chilling thought experiment, it highlights the importance of responsible technological development. As we venture further into the realms of AI, robotics, and advanced weaponry, we must prioritize ethical considerations, international cooperation, and robust safeguards to prevent the creation of technologies that could ultimately threaten our very existence.

  It's important to remember that the pursuit of "unstoppable" weapons is a dangerous and potentially futile endeavor. The history of warfare demonstrates that every innovation eventually faces a counter-innovation, leading to a perpetual and unpredictable arms race. Focusing on diplomacy, conflict resolution, and the peaceful application of technology is ultimately the most effective path to a safer and more secure future.

• 

Wow.

I got far more than I bargained for.

Some Highlights:

Decentralized Intelligence

Now that’s a game-changer. A P2P autonomous swarm intelligence would be far harder to stop than a conventional drone system with three or four points of control. But a swarm intelligence or a collective consciousness based upon decentralized algorithms that controlled thousands of drones would be unstoppable in nearly any scenario.

Dynamic Armor and Dynamic Shielding

Another gamechanger. Suppose these drones had shields? Advanced materials or electromagnetic fields that rendered most weapons useless? And yet could fire at will at any targets? This is worse than Terminator!

Self-Repair and Replication

Worse and worse. This is more than a game-changer. This is a revolution! Robots that can repair themselves or each other? Even worse, robots that can replicate themselves from surrounding resources like enough metal and a mobile 3D printer? How about 3D-printed robots? That would be mass production on a scale hitherto unimaginable.

Nanotechnology

Yes, I’m getting tired of the word, but this is a game-changer as well. Suppose we had nano-technology weapons that could dismantle enemy (or human) molecular matter on a molecular level. This is not impossible. In fact, I would not be surprised if some countries around the world did not have departments open on research on such a level (although I would doubt their moral fiber). How do you fight the enemy you cannot see? Simply put, this is the most dangerous weapon of them all. How do you defend yourself at a sub-molecular level?

Destruction Through Hacking

This weapon is nothing new. Some authors of some very popular books (So This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends) say that US hackers have access to Russian nuclear missiles and Russian hackers have access to US nuclear missiles. The entire war could be over before it ever started.

Cyber warfare is the most important weapon we have right now. Whoever controls the Internet controls the world. This is a wake-up call for all countries - including India - to ramp up and strengthen their cyber attack forces. The best hackers in the world will decide the fate of all future wars. Even nanotechnology with a swarm intelligence will have an on/off switch.

Hacking and white-hat hackers will be the most sought-after tools of the future wars yet to come. Does anyone want such a war? No! But will it come eventually? If you’re lucky - not in your lifetime!

Existential Threats

Autonomous weapons are a threat to all humanity. If a robot is given autonomy, it may decide the best way to preserve the planet is to kill as many human beings as possible. Is autonomy possible? Everybody studying Reinforcement Learning will tell you that it is. What is human existence but an endless cycle of learning and adjusting your behavior according to the learning to maximize a particular goal? And what do reinforcement learning agents do?

Essentially the same thing! Don’t be fooled.

Autonomy is nothing more than a state of continuous learning, adaptation from learning, and the ability to teach and change oneself. Industrial robots have learned that decades ago.

Conclusion (For Real)

AI poses a threat to all humanity. While that is not going to stop us from building them, it does mean that AI development must be done ethically, morally, and responsibly. For not just your own sake but for the sake of all humanity. And I hate to end here but my thoughts are full of the next, even more lethal danger that will arrive - biological weapons.

May God guard us all.