Moral Code for Predator UAV

by peder.sande | June 30, 2009 at 03:28 pm

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Ron Arkin, at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has created software which could be the start of a moral code for military robots. The code stops UAV predator drones from firing at enemies within cemetery lines, allows the UAV predator drones to exhibit guilt when they create collateral dammage and to be more wary of targets in civilian areas.

A robotics engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed an "ethical governor," which could be used to program military robots to act ethically when deciding when, and whom, to shoot or bomb.

The increased development of UAVs and other intelligent systems have begun to spur a philosophical debate between their creators. UAV predator drones do not feel empathy or remorse and are capable of creating mass violence against humanity. It would seem illogical to charge these machines with war crimes or other criminal suits, in the truest sense these machines would 'just be following orders' yet what if no direct order was given, just there background programming. Who would be responsible? The programmers, the machines, the keepers?

Luckily a human element is built into all UAVs at the moment, but the question will one day need to be addressed and researchers like Ron Arbik and Illah Nourbakhsh are at the forefront trying to answer these questions.

Fortunately, the developer, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), has thoughtfully included a Man in the Loop feature that enables the missile to be controlled in real time in case an attack needs aborting to avoid collateral damage.

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