The use of Phantom MK-1 humanoid robots in Ukraine does not mean that wars are about to be fought by intelligent machines, according to an expert.
Karim Jerbi, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Montreal and holder of a research chair in computational neuroscience and cognitive imaging, believes that the development of this type of technology is far from the point where robots will destroy each other on the battlefield.
“This idea that we will have armies facing off now, thousands of robots against another army of thousands of robots. That is really science fiction, that’s what we see in movies,” he said in an interview on Benoit Dutrizac’s show on QUB radio in Montreal.
Jerbi also mentioned that Foundation Robotics, the company offering the MK1 robot, wants us to believe that it is almost a moral and ethical decision to send robots to be killed rather than humans, even though the technology is not ready and it is still a business owner trying to sell their product.
According to him, there are numerous examples showing that these humanoid robots are not ready to be deployed massively in war zones. He mentioned videos on YouTube where tests show the robots moving clumsily and even falling.
Jerbi emphasized that technology is simply not ready yet, and companies in this sector are trying to make the public believe otherwise for purely commercial reasons.
The use of autonomous robots and artificial intelligence in war situations also raises ethical issues, according to Jerbi. He emphasized that having autonomous AI in the military, capable of making decisions without human intervention, could lead to errors that could result in significant military mistakes.
Jerbi stressed the ethical implications of removing humans from the decision-making loop and placing the responsibility on machines and algorithms in the case of military errors.
He believes that there needs to be a profound reflection on the use of artificial intelligence, especially in the military, and on the responsibility of AI.
“When profits come before ethics and human rights in general, there is a real problem,” he concluded.
