Pentagon: Drone Dogfighting Not Gonna Happen
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Friday, 21 of December , 2007 at 6:29 am
Well, I’m disappointed. It looks like a drone dogfight, which would be the only thing more robotic than the acting in Top Gun, is not going to be feasible for at least the next 25 years, according to the Pentagon… Dyke Weatherington, deputy director for the Pentagon’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Task Force, states that “there’s really no way that a system that’s remotely controlled can effectively operate in an offensive or defensive air combat requirement. The requirement of that is a fully autonomous system, we don’t have that level of autonomy yet and frankly in the roadmap that will take many years to get to.” He’s got a point there, sort of, but I also think that the speed of development of aerial combat drones is being vastly underestimated, especially when it comes to the AI. I’m not saying I think it’ll happen in the next year, but 25 years is a very, very long time when it comes to computers. I mean, 25 years ago was what, 1982? Think about the amount of change that has happened between then and now, and project it forward. We’re rapidly approaching the point where hardware is not going to be the limiting factor, and where computers will be able to operate (and interoperate) fast enough to make faster and arguably better decisions in an active combat environment than humans are capable of. The hardest part, in my opinion, is not going to be developing the autonomy: it’s going to be getting past all of those prickly ethical issues that come up when you have robots deciding whether or not to shoot at people.
BTW, the drone matchup above is the Boeing X-45 versus the MiG UCAV.
VIA [ Danger Room ]
Category: Artificial Intelligence, Military
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Comment by Jaime
Made Friday, 21 of December , 2007 at 4:54 pm
Maybe there is a link between the ethical issues and the timeline that is announced. I am not speaking about any complot theory, but already a committee of scientists in Europe made a decision to address general concerns such as the uncanney valley before “building” the new robots.
Question is if we are not ready now, why should we be tomorrow? Voices are arising there and there about “moral agents” but still humanity seems to be willing to stay in its psychologic bunker, safe from “Frankeinstein syndrom”. Who would blame us…Alien Intelligence maybe?
Comment by Andre L. Soares
Made Wednesday, 26 of December , 2007 at 12:28 pm
I don’t surprise myself with the mistakes of the Pentagon. But, sometimes, until I thank for such mistakes.