The Future of War: AI + Autonomous Warfare with “Army of None” Author Paul Scharre

02/07/19 • 53 min

MIND & MACHINE: Science & Tech of Maximizing Human Capability

My guest today is Paul Scharre, author of the book "Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future of War" — which Bill Gates recently featured in his top five book recommendations of the year. Paul is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security — a think tank based in Washinton D.C. Previously, Paul worked for the U.S. Secretary of Defense where he played a leading role in establishing policies on unmanned autonomous systems and emerging weapons technologies. He led the Department of Defense working-group that drafted policies on autonomy in weapon systems. He also led DoD efforts to establish policies on intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance programs. We discuss the current state of military autonomous weapons, the degree to which highly autonomous warfare will be conducted in the future, and the ethical challenges facing this technology. We also get into the resistance from employees within Google and other A.I companies toward supporting military uses. More from Paul: https://www.cnas.org/people/paul-scharre Twitter: https://twitter.com/paul_scharre More at: https://www.MindAndMachine.io

Previous Episode

AI Documentary “Do You Trust This Computer” Director Chris Paine on Artificial Intelligence

My guest today is Chris Pain, director of the AI documentary film "Do You Trust This Computer?" and previously the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?". The new film is a powerful examination of artificial intelligence centered around insights from the most high-profile thinkers on the subject, including Elon Musk, Stuart Russell, Max Tegmark, Ray Kurzweil, Andrew Ng, Westworld creator Jonathan Nolan and many more. Chris set out to ask these leaders in the field "what scares smart people about AI", and they did not hold back. More on Chris and the Film: Chris Paine's Production Company, Papercut Films: http://papercutfilms.com “Do You Trust This Computer?" Website: http://doyoutrustthiscomputer.org __________ More at: https://www.MindAndMachine.io

Next Episode

Neuromorphic Computers, Machines Simulating the Brain with Steve Furber

My guest today is Steven Furber, who has led the design of the SpiNNiker neuromorphic computer — a brain simulator with one million cores on a single machine, each core interacting with the others in ways mimicking how living brains function. His work on the SpiNNiker neuromorphic computer is designed to both teach us more about how human brains work and to advance computational capabilities.

Neuromorphic computing is a sub-set of Artificial intelligence focusing on hardware that uses the information processing methods of brains, as opposed to other fields of AI using software algorithms.

Steven Furber is the ICL Professor of Computer Engineering in the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester in the UK.

We discuss modeling the brain with machines, why neuromorphic computing is generating so much excitement these days, and how it opens up computational possibilities beyond traditional computers. Then we examine the potential capabilities and ethical challenges of artificial intelligence more broadly.