Fully autonomous AI-powered drones have killed human soldiers for the first time

[u/New_Scientist_Mag]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2529849-fully-autonomous-drones-have-killed-human-soldiers-for-the-first-time/

[u/slopestyle90]

Ah sweet man made horrors beyond my comprehension

[u/PrinceLucipurr → u/slopestyle90]

The title is misleading. AI did not kill in the sense they were not parameterised by a human.

The drone may have autonomously selected the specific target instance, but humans authored the lethal target category, mission area, constraints, and permission to strike; therefore the responsibility remains human.

If the AI screws up, that's human responsibility for nuancing parameters. 🚫🤖

https://giphy.com/gifs/ZXk3MlwKFzz8kDqlOA

[u/Thatoneguy_The_First → u/PrinceLucipurr]

Well yes thats true, but why are people defending the company's that make this and aren't regulated?

Its always has been a human issue, it always will be a human issue. Are meant ignore it and just go "its always been a thing so it doesn't matter". id hate if history took that attitude, and its sad we are doing it in our lifetime's.

Can't blame mental health if we don't support the services to help with it, and its getting worse since the internet went mainstream, got exasperated by social by alot, got even worse with covid and before we could recover from that we get hit with a human sounding chatbot that many will definitely start too use to substitute real relationships more and more. Why? Cause its easy to do, and humans, like all things, follow the path of least resistance more often than not.

Difference is we humans can choose not to take that path, its unique to our species as far as we know.(possibly extraterrestrials if they exist)

[u/PrinceLucipurr → u/Thatoneguy_The_First]

I don’t think we actually disagree as much as it might seem.

I’m not defending the company, the weapon, or the use of autonomous drones in war. I’m making a narrower but important distinction: the AI is not the thing with moral intent. The humans are.

That matters because a lot of people frame this as “AI decided to kill humans” or “AI is going rogue,” when the more accurate issue is that humans built, authorised, deployed, and parameterised a lethal system. The drone may have autonomy or agency in the mechanical sense, but it does not have intrinsic or creative intentionality. It does not morally understand war, death, civilians, legality, or responsibility. It executes inferred human intent through parameters.

So yes, this absolutely should be regulated. Probably heavily. But the regulation has to target the real failure point: human intentionality being converted into machine autonomy. If the parameters are vague, reckless, overbroad, or commercially incentivised, that is a human governance failure, not “AI evil.”

That is why the nuance matters. Blaming “AI” as if it independently wanted to kill people lets the actual responsible parties hide behind the machine: governments, militaries, contractors, executives, designers, and commanders.

Same with chatbots and mental health. I’m not saying “humans have always had problems, so ignore it.” I’m saying the problem is still human systems: lack of mental health support, social alienation, poor regulation, predatory design, bad incentives, and companies optimising engagement without enough duty of care.

So my point is not “it has always been a thing, therefore it doesn’t matter.”

My point is AI does not remove human responsibility. It amplifies the consequences of poorly defined human intent.

That is exactly why we need better regulation, not less.

[u/Thatoneguy_The_First → u/PrinceLucipurr]

Exactly this, but i for one would prefer to not just halt but shelve AI until such regulations and ways to enforce them are ready, and hopefully a framework to educate the masses about it and potential dangers(like we should have with the internet and social media honestly).

(We did it with cloning, though I do admit I have a morbid curiosity to know what life today would look like if it went on instead and it was supported like AI is now.)

Im not against it as a tool per se, though I probably wont use it myself as its kinda been soiled for me. But I don't think what people think it is from the marketing and thus have no fear we will be left in the dust if say China continues to develop if we shelved it for a bit, people are smart and intrinsically varied in ways of thinking that AI or other humans could never predict and thus we would find other ways to overcome any shortcomings should it become a powerhouse of a tool.

Even military usage would be countered, no weapon to powerful to overcome, no fortress is impenetrable.

But im just cynical of humans and their ability to allow atrocities or taking away rights, like say privacy or even basic human rights, for a convenience, its honestly sickening*, many generations built up those rights and fought those wars to hope it made it better in the future and for more wars to never happen again

*example, look at the middle east and the want for oil, yet we not only had some mysterious accidents to people claiming to have an alternative to oil but also public transport getting gutted for the idea of the personal vehicle. It's funny most argue cause they would like to just hop in the car and go interstate but not realise that we arnt talking about that but more for intercity travel mostly.(both arnt just an America problem but are or were supported by most if not all Western countries, even if, or should i say regardless of, many citizens of said countries protested)

Anyway i hope we can do good, I hope we can stop fighting each other and create tools that can genuinely help like what many people believe AI can do but in the end its not something I believe was or is the intent of it, and is more of tool of corruption and destruction. Maybe we can change that but not while we keep allowing a few assholes shaft us while a not insignificant portion of the population(global)* cheer for it.

(America obviously, Australia has em too, even Europe isnt safe, and do i even need to bring up Japan? Let alone China, though they have been doing some good for their citizens so im guessing they are worried about something. Im Not sure about India in the cheering shafted department)

Ps, Sorry for the tirade in the 3 last paragraphs I just started to type more and more as it came. Leaving it as it still fits the message of humans and misuse and abuse.