Xiangshan Forum in Beijing asks whether military AI will make war more acceptable
- If robots replace people in combat it will prevent human casualties, but also make war easier, retired Chinese major general says
- Artificial intelligence is also widening the technological gap between powerful nations and the rest of the world, academic says
Yao Yunzhu, a retired major general and director of the Centre on China-America Defence Relations at the People’s Liberation Army’s Academy of Military Science, said that while some aspects of AI technology might reduce the possibility of human casualties in combat, it was also making conflicts more likely.
“AI can be applied to warfare in many different ways, like improving a weapon’s precision or speeding up the decision-making process,” she said at the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing. “If robots or machines replace human beings in combat it might make it more acceptable as it can prevent human casualties, but in the same way it also makes war easier.”
If robots or machines replace human beings in combat it might make it more acceptable as it can prevent human casualties, but in the same way it also makes war easier
Lora Lannan Saalman, a senior fellow from EastWest Institute’s Global Cooperation in Cyberspace programme, echoed Yao’s concerns, saying the race to develop AI, especially for weapons, could destabilise the global order.
