How America Loses the Next War Part III of V
Chill out, we've had killer robots for years
The first example of a killer robot in fiction is often attributed to the play "R.U.R." (Rossum's Universal Robots), written by Czech playwright Karel Čapek. The play premiered in 1920. While the robots in "R.U.R." were not technically robots in the modern sense of the word, they were artificial beings created to perform labor for humans.
In the play, the robots were bioengineered humanoid beings, not mechanical constructs as we envision robots today. However, they were designed with an inherent flaw – they lacked the ability to procreate. As a result, they eventually rebelled against their human creators, leading to the extinction of the human race by the end of the play. The robots in "R.U.R." were more akin to androids, but they set the stage for future portrayals of killer robots in science fiction like The Terminator or the 1986 classic “Chopping Mall.”
Prepare yourself for a shock - we’re had killer robots for years and humanity is still here. The AEGIS Combat System uses computers and radars to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets. It is fully automated.
So is the Patriot missile.
It has to be. Modern weapons like cruise and ballistic missiles move too fast for humans to comprehend. Automated systems can detect and respond to incoming threats much faster than human operators. SAM systems need to be vigilant at all times, continuously scanning the airspace for potential threats.
Humans may experience fatigue or lapses in attention during extended monitoring, but automated systems can maintain a constant watch without tiring.
Artificial Intelligence is already at work at the Division and Brigade level for handling strategic intelligence.
But what if we can get AI down to the tactical level? The good news is that it already exists. Carnet.ai can identify vehicles with a 97% accuracy.
While it’s easy to visually modify a tank in order to change its appearance.
It’s not so easy to change the thermal characteristics of a vehicle.
We already have a fantastic thermals on American M1A2 tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, but we are still using humans to identify targets.
Palomar Display Products Inc. of Carlsbad, California manufactures the forward-looking infrared BICU (binocular image control units), which is the gunner's primary thermal sight on the Abrams tank. The BICU produces large, bright, high-quality images. It is a small system that produces a large field of view, provides high optical magnification, and is reliable in military vehicles.
We have good images through the BICU. We have the technology to match images with and vehicles with AI.
If we mate the two, we have an aimbot.
An aimbot is a type of software designed to assist players in video games, particularly in first-person shooters (FPS) and other competitive games. The primary purpose of an aimbot is to enhance the player's aiming capabilities by automatically and precisely targeting opponents. It achieves this by using various techniques to lock onto enemy players, providing the user with an unfair advantage in the game.
Here's how an aimbot typically works:
Target Acquisition: The aimbot identifies enemy players within its range of detection. This can be done using various methods, such as analyzing the game's memory to locate player positions or reading data directly from the screen.
Aim Assistance: Once the enemy players are detected, the aimbot assists the user by automatically adjusting their crosshair or aiming point to track the target accurately. This allows the player to land shots on opponents more easily and with a higher level of precision than humanly possible.
Auto-Fire: In some cases, aimbots can also include an auto-fire feature, which automatically triggers the player's weapon when the aimbot confirms that the crosshair is on a valid target. This can lead to rapid and precise firing, further increasing the advantage for the user.
Aimbots are considered cheating and are strictly prohibited in most online games, as they disrupt the fair and competitive nature of gameplay.
But in war, aimbots could give a tank crew a significant advantage, especially to a crew that is exhausted. The AI Aimbot never gets tired, it is constantly scanning its thermal and optical sensors for the signatures of enemy vehicles to highlight them for servicing.
The commander and the gunner still make the decision to pull the trigger. No AI is involved in making the decision to service the target.
An AI aimbot could significantly increase lethality for the warfighter - and if we don’t do it, we will be at a significant disadvantage in the next war.
And as for killer robots… the greatest danger to humans has always been humans themselves.
We’ve been killing each other since the first Canaanite attacked the first Egyptian at the battle of Battle of Megiddo in 1479 BCE.
If AI wants to get as good as humans when it comes to killing, it still has a lot of learning to do.
Get ready for the battlebots. Killer robots against killer robots. Swarms of UAVs against swarms of UAVs. In that fight, the faster chip will matter more than the faster AI.
Good story. Aircraft use a similar system with the help of IFF. Radar returns are not as accurate in identifying the target because of the constant turning and movement, sometimes at speeds in excess of Mach 1, by the target. This would be very advantageous to the side that has it as long as there is no direct connection between the sight and the trigger without a human in the middle.