Letter Against Weapons Using Artificial Intelligence Submitted In UN

Scientists and technology leaders gathered at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Melbourne on Monday. The Conference is attended by the most prestigious and renowned scientists and technology experts from around the world. First held in 1969, the conference has been held biennially every odd year until 2016, when it was decided to hold the conference annually. In this year’s conference, gathered representatives submitted an open letter to the United Nations asking the peace-keeper to put an end to the ever increasing development of weapons that use artificial intelligence.

Toby Walsh, Elon Musk, and James Chow were among the key dignitaries present at the conference. They collectively called for the ban of the autonomous weaponry from the battlefield. The main concern in the minds of the Artificial Intelligence experts is that these weapons could be acquired and misused by radicals and terrorists and conquering nations using autonomous weaponry would become quite easier, thereby devastating world peace. They believe that once these weapons are used, the knowledge of developing these weapons alone would make any country the conqueror nation. They wish the UN to ban the use of weapons using artificial intelligence on the battlefield, same as the ban on chemical and biological warfare.

Walsh submitted the letter along with a unanimous agreement of 116 founders of various companies. The letter marked the first time that the pioneers of the artificial intelligence have agreed on a large scale as this. A previous letter that called for the ban of autonomous weaponry was submitted only by a single company. In December last year, 123 countries of the UN’s Review Conference of the Convention on Conventional Weapons had agreed to begin formal talks on the subject of artificial intelligence and of those 123 countries, 19 have already called for a ban on autonomous weaponry. Experts say that the gathering and agreement of the best minds in the field of AI reinforces the dangers of autonomous weaponry, making it leave the realm of hypothetical and bringing it to reality.