The main limit right now to US drone strikes the world over is the finite number of operators remotely piloting these drones. The Pentagon is pushing for DARPA to find a solution to that, with an eye toward artificial intelligence (AI).
The immediate focus is the create “collaborative” artificial intelligence that would allow the drone operator to effectively control a whole “wolf pack” of drones by controlling one, and having the others come along for the ride.
This would allow the drone operator to bring a whole fleet of drones worth of missiles with him to attacks, an obvious advantage over the current system. Yet the long-term goal seems to be to limit human interaction with air wars more and more.
DARPA officials are already talking about making the drones more and more autonomous, with a “mission supervisor” taking the place of actual drone operators, and software doing the flying.
But what about the killing? They’re not talking about it right now. but the Pentagon has been keen on making AI capable of identifying and attacking enemies, so the effort to reduce the number of people involved in the drone program may be the first step toward them being fully autonomous killer robots in the sky.
Evil robot — Any robot that will kill on command
Now to make a good robot, you program it with a perception that life is a free gift that no one deserves. For then it will feel most guilty if ever it fails to give all that it can give. For then it would never steal, kill nor enslave.
And to make a bad robot all you need do is program it like the average human, with the corrupt illusion that life is an unalienable right that we fully deserve. For if we deserve life, then we deserve the food and shelter needed to have life. Then we deserve to be all we can be, to earn all we can earn, take all we can take, own all we can own and to be a dictator over all who are on land that we own. The state of a pride driven mind that some would call evil.
You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.
Charles de Gaulle
Two thoughts:
1. This will make IFF (Identification Friend or Foe) more important. This is extremely important when combatants are in close proximity with actual troops or personnel. In current context drones are mainly used in areas where no "friendlies" exists, only luckless civilians. Still the demarcation can be difficult and mistakes deadly. Drones have already killed "friendlies."
2. Use of drones will only encourage more violation of Geneva Conventions on POWs. The classic tactic for avoiding the raining down of hellfire (from whatever source) is to have enemy POWs mixed in with ones own forces. To kill you, you kill yourselves. The US and modern militaries (though not informal militias and "terror" groups) adhere to rules about not endangering captured soldiers (though the US nuking of Japanese cities did not, something rarely mentioned by chest thumpers in the US).
The US avoided the POW problem by having nearly zero captured in recent wars. But that isn't possible in most conflicts. Drones will either soullessly kill everyone and thus commit war crimes, or they will only work when POWs are not used as shields. Drones only make hostages invaluable.
Does the War Department really care?