Ethics of Artificial Intelligence

I personally believe that all weapons violate the Martens Clause because of their purpose and usage. The Martens Clause "bans weapons that violate the "principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience" (416). Weapons are specifically made to cause collateral damage, whether on purpose or as defense, and no matter what the reason may be behind its usage, a person or persons will be murdered. The creation of lethal autonomous weapon systems will also violate the Martens Clause due to the fact that it may "violate fundamental principles of human dignity by allowing machines whom to kill" (416). By creating such AI weapons, we are putting our own lives and other human beings life's at risk by allowing machinery/robots to decide whom to terminate and under what circumstance. Like the example provided in the article, these robots may be programmed to terminate any individual performing "threatening behavior" and may result in murders of innocent civilians. Although the article mentions great benefits from the creations of these AI technologies, such as systems that "could help the elderly, improve health care, make jobs safer and more efficient, and allow us to explore space or beneath the ocean", we are going to need to rely on all this technology with knowing an error could occur at any given moment. You may be exploring the ocean when suddenly what your traveling in stops with no way back to a safe surface. This examples leads to the reason that all machinery created must have meaningful human control. In my perspective, having meaningful human control over technology means an individual whom is using a certain type of technology is using it for a greater/meaningful purpose and knows how the technology completely functions and how to keep it under control. An example of what meaningful human control means to me ca be seen in surgeons whom use different types of advanced tools to perform surgeries on individuals for a meaningful/life-saving reason and have complete control on the tools and how it functions. The scope of the four conversations of the article is the pros and cons of the development of AI weapons. It begins with the violation of humanity into having representation and leaders to convince the public and ends with the benefits AI weapons produce and the fields it may improve. The fields that are impacted by these AI robotics are mainly the medical field, the military, and the air force including NASA and its space craft. A great example of how AI robots may violate humanity is displayed in the film The Terminator where an advanced cyborg made out of liquid metal is destined to terminate an individual. A computer system known as Skynet, gained self-awareness and realized its extent to its abilities leading it to want to exterminate the human race and their "usefulness". This film is a great example on how artificial intelligence violates humanity and how impossible it may be to control once it has gained its own self-awareness.