Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Weapons with minds of their own
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Weapons with minds of their own
The future of warfare is being shaped by computer algorithms that are assuming ever greater control over battlefield technology. Will this give machines the power to decide who to kill?
The United States is in a race to harness gargantuan leaps in artificial intelligence to develop new weapons systems for a new kind of warfare. Pentagon leaders call it “algorithmic warfare.” But the push to integrate AI into battlefield technology raises a big question: How far should we go in handing control of lethal weapons to machines?
We team up with The Center for Public Integrity and national security reporter Zachary Fryer-Biggs to examine how AI is transforming warfare and our own moral code.
In our first story, Fryer-Biggs and Reveal’s Michael Montgomery head to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Sophomore cadets are exploring the ethics of autonomous weapons through a lab simulation that uses miniature tanks programmed to destroy their targets.
Next, Fryer-Biggs and Montgomery talk to a top general leading the Pentagon’s AI initiative. They also explore the legendary hackers conference known as DEF CON and hear from technologists campaigning for a global ban on autonomous weapons.
Machines are getting smarter, faster, and better at figuring out who to kill in battle. But should we let them?
View all episodes
By The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
4.7
78677,867 ratings
The future of warfare is being shaped by computer algorithms that are assuming ever greater control over battlefield technology. Will this give machines the power to decide who to kill?
The United States is in a race to harness gargantuan leaps in artificial intelligence to develop new weapons systems for a new kind of warfare. Pentagon leaders call it “algorithmic warfare.” But the push to integrate AI into battlefield technology raises a big question: How far should we go in handing control of lethal weapons to machines?
We team up with The Center for Public Integrity and national security reporter Zachary Fryer-Biggs to examine how AI is transforming warfare and our own moral code.
In our first story, Fryer-Biggs and Reveal’s Michael Montgomery head to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Sophomore cadets are exploring the ethics of autonomous weapons through a lab simulation that uses miniature tanks programmed to destroy their targets.
Next, Fryer-Biggs and Montgomery talk to a top general leading the Pentagon’s AI initiative. They also explore the legendary hackers conference known as DEF CON and hear from technologists campaigning for a global ban on autonomous weapons.
Machines are getting smarter, faster, and better at figuring out who to kill in battle. But should we let them?
More shows like Reveal
View all
Living on Earth
465 Listeners
On the Media
9,064 Listeners
Latino USA
3,757 Listeners
Afropop Worldwide
302 Listeners
Radiolab
43,817 Listeners
Live Wire with Luke Burbank
312 Listeners
This American Life
90,791 Listeners
Fresh Air
38,132 Listeners
The Moth
27,222 Listeners
The World
913 Listeners
Snap Judgment
11,589 Listeners
99% Invisible
26,168 Listeners
Criminal
37,247 Listeners
The New Yorker Radio Hour
6,567 Listeners
Embedded
11,897 Listeners
Code Switch
14,494 Listeners
1A
4,643 Listeners
Ear Hustle
20,512 Listeners
The FRONTLINE Dispatch
1,078 Listeners
Things That Go Boom
319 Listeners
The Science of Happiness
1,875 Listeners
Throughline
15,878 Listeners
Suave
1,499 Listeners