AI May Be Good for Humanity But Very Bad for Warfare
An artificial intelligence arms race between China and the US could be far harder to control than nuclear proliferation was during the Cold War.
Smart doggy.
Photographer: Axel Heimken/AFP/Getty Images
Like it or not, the artificial intelligence arms race is coming. The rise of disruptive new technologies always creates vast possibilities and grave apprehensions of peril. In an ideal world, the great powers might be able to constrain the military uses of technology that could revolutionize conflict in the coming decades. In our imperfect world, such efforts are almost certain to fail.
The implications of AI are already ubiquitous: This family of technologies is changing how doctors treat diseases, politicians raise money, and tyrants control their citizens. And as one might expect from a technology that has been deemed as transformative as electricity or even fire, AI is affecting not just how societies function, but how they fight.