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Believe it or not, the organization with Earth's largest weapons arsenal now has an AI code of conduct. After a 15-month review, the U.S. Department of Defense formally adopted "ethical principles" for AI on Monday.
The principles cover five main areas
- Responsible. Use "appropriate levels of judgment and care."
- Equitable. Minimize "unintended bias."
- Traceable. Don't let AI systems operate like a black box.
- Reliable. No buggy algorithms or hardware.
- Governable. All autonomous systems should have an "off" button in case stuff hits the fan.
These principles will do little to assuage critics who say AI-augmented weapons could lead to a "killer robot" storyline ripped from Sarah Connor's nightmares. But for now, the DoD says humans have veto power over the actions of armed robots.
Bottom line: The Pentagon seems most focused on deploying AI into non-combat arenas like surveillance, intelligence, and logistics. But even those efforts are bound to meet resistance from civil society groups and contracted tech employees.