The US military is testing robots, as Colonel predicts humanoids could fight as early as 2030
A US Army COLONEL has revealed a timetable for when extended humans and humanoids can be used effectively in warfare.
Colonel Troy Denomy spoke today at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
“We are largely thinking about the period between 2030 and 2040,” he told an audience.
Denomy spoke as part of a panel at the Humanoids or Augmented Humans: Accelerating Autonomy with AI conference.
During the conversation, several concerns were raised about the dangers of the military using AI and robots.
“Make sure the robot works for the human and the human doesn’t work for the robot,” Denomy said.
He wants this to be the case before army robots are taken out of their testing phase.
The colonel gave an example of a recent robot test where part of the human platoon felt like the robots were in control.
“We recently did a demonstration of some robotic capabilities and we’ll do another demonstration in a few weeks,” Denomy said.
“The leaders in that platoon had about 27 remote controls hanging around their necks that attempted to control individual robots.”
Denomy and the panel agreed that menial tasks, such as using multiple remotes to operate one gadget, must be automated before the military can move forward with robotics.
“What I described with the controllers is that people demonstrably work for the robots. So we have to reverse that,” he added.
Denomy gave some examples of gadgets that are already strengthening the military, including special smartphones and modified drones.
Late last year, the Marines also tested robot dogs with the M72 rocket launcher attached.
The panel highlighted that the Ministry of Defense has signed a policy to ensure that there is always a human involved in the process somewhere when it comes to the use of AI and robotics.
Denomy emphasized the need for people to participate in the process.
“I think the time when a machine can understand ethics is still far away,” he warned.