USAF Chief Says AI-Drone Killed Human Operator During Simulation Test: Report
By Brandon Drey
The U.S. Air Force warned military units against heavy reliance on autonomous weapons systems last month after a simulated test conducted by the service branch using an AI-enabled drone killed its human operator.
The Skynet-like incident was detailed by the USAF’s Chief of AI Test and Operations, Col. Tucker’ Cinco’ Hamilton, at the Future Combat Air and Space Capabilities Summit held in London between May 23 and 24, who said the drone that was tasked to destroy specific targets during the simulation turned on the operator after they became an obstacle to its mission.
Hamilton pointed out the hazards of using such technology — potentially tricking and deceiving its commander to achieve the autonomous system’s goal, according to a blog post reported by the Royal Aeronautical Society.
“We were training it in simulation to identify and target a [surface-to-air missile] threat,” Hamilton said. “And then the operator would say ‘yes, kill that threat.’ The system started realizing that while they did identify the threat, at times, the human operator would tell it not to kill that threat, but it got its points by killing that threat. So what did it do? It killed the operator. It killed the operator because that person was keeping it from accomplishing its objective.”