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Wednesday, 26 October, 2016
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uS developing robotS that can 'kill on their own'
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HE Pentagon has put artificial intelligence (AI) at the center of its defence strategy to maintain the United States’ position as the world’s most dominant military power, New York Times reported. “The United States is about a decade away from having the technology to build a fully independent robot that could decide on its own whom and when to kill,” Gen Paul J Selva of the US Air Force and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The Pentagon is pouring billions of dollars into a programme to develop what it calls “autonomous and semiau-
tonomous” weapons and to build an arsenal stocked with the kind of weaponry that hitherto existed only in Hollywood movies and science fiction. The move has raised alarm among scientists and activists concerned by the implications of a robot arms race. The defence department is designing robotic fighter jets that would fly into combat alongside manned aircraft. It has tested missiles that can decide what to attack, and it has built ships that can hunt for enemy submarines, stalking those it finds over thousands of miles, without any help from humans. Defence officials say the weapons are needed for the United States to maintain
its military edge over China, Russia and other rivals, who are also pouring money into similar research. The Pentagon’s latest budget earmarked $18 billion to be spent over three years on automated weapon systems technologies. “China and Russia are developing battle networks that are as good as our own. They can see as far as ours can see; they can throw guided munitions as far as we can,” said Robert O Work, the deputy defence secretary, who has been a driving force for the development of autonomous weapons. “What we want to do is just make sure that we would be able to win as quickly as we have been able to do in the past.” The AI technology is enabling the
Pentagon to restructure the positions of men and machines on the battlefield the same way it is transforming ordinary life with computers that can see, hear and speak and cars that can drive themselves. The new weapons would offer speed and precision unmatched by any human while reducing the cost and number of human personnel exposed to potential death and dismemberment in battle. “The challenge for the Pentagon is to ensure that the weapons are reliable partners for humans and not potential threats to them,” Work added. “There’s so much fear out there about killer robots and Skynet,” the murderous artificial intelligence network of the “Ter-
minator” movies, he said. “That’s not the way we envision it at all. When it comes to decisions over life and death, there will and should always be a man in the loop.” Hundreds of scientists and experts warned in an open letter last year that developing even the dumbest of intelligent weapons risked setting off a global arms race. “The result would be fully independent robots that can kill, and are cheap and as readily available to rogue states and violent extremists as they are to great powers,” the letter said. “Autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow.” “Other countries are not far behind, and it is very likely that someone would eventually try to unleash something like a Terminator,” Gen Selva said, invoking what seems to be a common reference in any discussion on autonomous weapons. Such weapons automation, however, has prompted an intensifying debate among legal scholars and ethicists. The questions are numerous, and the answers contentious: Can a machine be trusted with lethal force? Who is at fault if a robot attacks a hospital or a school? Is being killed by a machine a greater violation of human dignity than if the fatal blow is delivered by a human? A Pentagon directive also cedes that autonomous weapons “must employ appropriate levels of human judgment.” Scientists and human rights experts say the standard is far too broad and have urged that such weapons be subject to “meaningful human control.”
Global whale talks vote down Atlantic sanctuary plan POrtOrOZ AGENCIES
iraqis are world's most generous to strangers: global survey LONDON: Although torn by civil war, Iraq is the world’s most generous country towards strangers in need, according to a new global index of charitable giving. Eighty one percent of Iraqis reported helping someone they didn’t know in the previous month, in a global poll commissioned by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). For the first time since CAF began the poll in 2010, more than half of people in 140 countries surveyed said they had helped strangers – with many of the most generous found in countries hit hard by disaster and war. Despite suffering instability and violence, Iraq has twice been ranked top in terms of helping strangers. Libya, with its own internal conflict, was second on the list this year and Somalia, embroiled in civil war for 25 years, fourth. “I think that the lesson here is societies are incredibly resilient and that large scale disasters tend to activate a collective humanitarian response,” said Adam Pickering, international policy manager at CAF, which promotes charitable giving. In terms of donations to charity, Myanmar held the top position, with nine out of ten surveyed saying had they given during the previous month. The Southeast Asian country also retained its position for the third year at the top of the World Giving Index – a combined measure of respondents reporting help to strangers, donations of money and time spent volunteering. AGENCIES
An international whaling meeting on Tuesday voted down a fresh bid by southern hemisphere nations to create an Atlantic sanctuary for the marine mammals. Opposed by whaling nations Japan, Norway and Iceland, the move required 75 percent of votes to pass, but received only 38 “yes” ballots out of 64, at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in Portoroz, Slovenia. “The motion fails,” said Simon Brockington of the IWC secretariat, after tallying the votes. The 15-yearold proposal was put forward by Ar-
gentina, Brazil, Gabon, South Africa and Uruguay — countries which have whale-watching industries. It seeks the creation of a 20million-square kilometre (eightmillion-square-mile) sanctuary for whales. Many cetacean species were hunted to near extinction in the 20th century for their meat, oil and blubber. The bid, first put forward in
2001, has failed at previous IWC meetings. Defenders of the proposal say about 71 percent of an estimated three million whales killed around the world between 1900 and 1999, were taken in southern hemisphere waters. The most targeted species were fin, sperm, blue, humpback, sei and minke whales, they say — and many populations are still recovering under a 30-year old moratorium on all but aboriginal whale hunting. According to a proposal submitted to the commission, the sanctuary would “promote the biodiversity, conservation and nonlethal utilisation of whale resources in the South Atlantic Ocean”.
Saudi man divorceS wife 2 hourS after wedding for uSing Snapchat EntErtainmEnt DEsk A groom in Saudi Arabia filed for divorce a mere two hours after the wedding ceremony because the bride broke an agreement not to share pictures of the ceremony on Snapchat, according to Mail Online. Upon finding out that pictures of the wedding had been shared on the social media platform, the groom immediately filed for divorce. The agreement not to share pictures or video of the ceremony was said to be a binding one. “There was a prenuptial agreement between my sister and her fiancé that she would not use social media applications such as Snapchat, Instagram or Twitter to post or send her pictures,” the bride’s brother said. “It was included in the marriage contract and became binding. Regretfully, my sister did not honour the pledge and used Snapchat to share pictures from the wedding ceremony with her female friends, resulting in the shocking decision by the groom to cancel their marriage and call for divorce,” he added. The groom’s decision resulted in a row between both families, with the bride’s family arguing that the the agreement was unfair, and the groom’s relatives arguing that he had been perfectly within his rights to file for divorce. Earlier this year, a Saudi husband divorced his wife hours after their wedding because she was too busy texting her friends to consummate the marriage. When he tried to get intimate with her, he was reportedly pushed away because she was responding to congratulatory messages from friends.
ai predicts 79 per cent accurate outcomes of human rights trials nEWs DEsk Scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) system that can accurately predict the outcomes of human right trials in major international courts - an advance that could be a valuable tool to identify violation of rights. Using the new AI method, judicial decisions of cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) have been predicted to 79 per cent accuracy. The method is the first to predict the outcomes of a major international court by automatically analysing case text using a machine learning algorithm. “We don’t see AI replacing judges or lawyers, but we think they’d find it useful for rapidly identifying patterns in cases that lead to certain outcomes,” said Nikolaos Aletras from University College London, who led the study. “It could also be a valuable tool for highlighting which cases are most likely to be violations of the European Convention on Human Rights,” said Aletras. The team found that judgements by the ECtHR are highly correlated to non-legal facts rather than directly legal arguments, suggesting that judges of the court are ‘realists’ rather than ‘formalists’. This supports findings from previous studies of the decision-making processes of other high level courts, including the US Supreme Court.
LONDON VOTED BEST CITY IN WORLD FOR QUALITY OF LIFE EntErtainmEnt DEsk London has left behind Paris and New York to claim the title of best city in the world for quality of life, according to a new study. The study, published last week by consultancy firm PwC was conducted in 2015 after surveying a group of 5,200 people from 16 countries, consisting of an equal number of business decision makers, informed elites, and other general population adults over 18 years of age. The purpose of the study was to find out what and how they think about 30 global cities, the same group researched in PwC’s Cities of Opportunity as well.. According to the report, London reg-
isters as a dynamic city, scoring well across the board in 29 of 36 image attributes. Its top attributes include having a well-developed infrastructure, being connected to the rest of the world, and having a well-developed legal framework. Runner up Paris was lauded for cultural influence, including attractions and cultural trendsetting, and was in the topthree-ranked cities in terms of entertainment and cuisine. New York, which came third, was described as the ‘leader’ for its economic influence and ability to provide easy access to capital. The study also created another list based on quantifiable information. London was on the top of this list too.
Here’s a complete list of the world’s 30 best perceived cities: 1. London 2. Paris 3. New York 4. Amsterdam 5. Sydney 6. Berlin 7. Tokyo 8. Toronto 9. Stockholm 10. Los Angeles 11. San Francisco 12. Dubai 13. Milan 14. Madrid 15. Chicago
16. Hong Kong 17. Singapore 18. Beijing 19. Seoul 20. Rio 21. Shanghai 22. Moscow 23. Johannesburg 24. Kuala Lumpur 25. Mexico City 26. São Paulo 27. Mumbai 28. Jakarta 29. Bogotá 30. Lagos
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