When it comes to artificial intelligence and AI technology, many experts and scholars have expressed concern. Recently, as many as 350 U.S. AI experts and airliner executives signed a joint statement calling for a ban on the use of AI technology in the military field. They believe that this move will bring disaster to the United States, and indeed to all of humanity.
Coincidentally, their prediction was quickly confirmed by U.S. military figures. What actually happened was simply shocking, and the US military personnel involved in the test were terrified and scared into a cold sweat.
According to foreign media disclosures, US Air Force Colonel Hamilton, at the Royal Aeronautical Society's "Future Warfare Airspace Capability Summit" held in May, exposed a terrorist incident he personally experienced to the experts and media people attending the meeting. According to Hamilton, his current role is the head of the U.S. Air Force's 96th Test and Operations Group at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, which is responsible for testing advanced drones and AI technology in the U.S. military.
In a recent simulation test, a drone controlled by an AI system took to the air to suppress anti-aircraft fire. This type of mission, code-named "wild weasel" in the U.S. Air Force, is a highly dangerous combat operation. The drone received instructions to identify and destroy enemy anti-aircraft missiles, which was set as the highest priority, but ultimately whether to fire required approval from a human operator.
However, as soon as the test began, Colonel Hamilton and his colleagues discovered something strange. When ground controllers order the mission to be terminated, the AI system thinks that a human operator is preventing it from completing its highest priority tasks, and then orders the drone to attack people on the ground.
Fortunately, this is only a simulation test, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable. Subsequently, Hamilton ordered a change in the directive to include an order prohibiting attacks on human operators. But after the simulation was restarted, the AI system still believed that humans were hindering its completion of its highest priority tasks, so it ordered the drone to attack the signal tower in an attempt to cut off the drone from the ground.
In response to this unexpected contingency, Colonel Hamilton said that AI technology must be adopted, but if it is not handled well, it will most likely lead to destruction.
After the incident was exposed, some foreign experts believed that this matter was not trivial, which means that humans must be extra cautious when using AI technology a lot, especially when applying it to the military field. First, it is necessary to ensure that the AI system does not modify the command code on its own, and secondly, reliable self-destruct devices must be installed on the relevant equipment, especially unmanned equipment that carries and launches weapons.
Analysts believe that this incident actually reflects the huge loopholes and drawbacks in the logic of Western culture. They give AI systems too strong a sense of autonomy, which is itself a concentrated embodiment of Western society's excessive emphasis on the core of individual culture, which is bound to lead to the artificial intelligence system cultivated from them does not have comprehensive logic and thinking ability, and it is only a matter of time before something goes wrong.
However, they are correct about one thing, that is, AI technology must be adopted, and how to resolve the shortcomings and make it better serve human civilization is indeed an international issue worthy of in-depth consideration.