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Who pulls the trigger?
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LOCATIONS UK 110 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6EU Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1200 Fax +44 (0) 20 7611 1250 Australia Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW 2067 Tel +61 2 9422 8559 Fax +61 2 9422 8552 USA 50 Hampshire St, Floor 5, Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 781 734 8770 Fax +1 720 356 9217
Subscription Service For our latest subscription offers, visit newscientist.com/subscribe Customer and subscription services are also available by: Telephone +44 (0) 330 333 9470 Email [email protected] Web newscientist.com/subscribe Post New Scientist, Rockwood House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DH One year subscription (51 issues) UK £150 cONTACTS Contact us newscientist.com/contact Who’s who newscientist.com/people General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] Editorial Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Picture desk Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1268 Display Advertising Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1291 [email protected] Recruitment Advertising UK Tel +44 (0) 20 8652 4444 [email protected] UK Newsstand Tel +44 (0) 20 3148 3333 Newstrade distributed by Marketforce UK Ltd, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU Syndication Tribune Content Agency Tel +44 (0) 20 7588 7588 [email protected]
© 2016 Reed Business Information Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by Reed Business Information Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by Williams Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
Who pulls the trigger? It’s time to negotiate an international agreement on killer robots FORGET “you have 20 seconds to comply”. In 2016, the robots will simply track down their targets and shoot to kill, no questions asked. This isn’t the plot of a Robocop remake but real life on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, where a killer robot could soon be deployed against coral-wrecking starfish. Called COTSbot, it is one of the world’s most advanced autonomous weapons systems, capable of selecting targets and using lethal force without any human involvement (see page 35). A starfish-killing robot may not sound like an internationally significant development, but releasing it on to the reef would cross a Rubicon. COTSbot amply
demonstrates that we now have the technology to build robots that can select their own targets and autonomously decide whether to kill them. The potential applications in human affairs – from warfare to law enforcement – are obvious. This issue is rising up the international agenda. In April last year, the UN spent five days debating “lethal autonomous weapons systems” – the second such meeting in as many years. A third week of discussions will be held this April. Up to now the talks have been what pressure group Campaign to Stop Killer Robots describes as “aim low and go slow” – a talking shop that takes no decisions
A drop of hard advice IT’S sobering news. If you’re having a dry January – and about 2 million people in England and Wales are trying, according to the charity Alcohol Concern – you might want to think about making it permanent. That was one of the take-home messages of new guidelines issued by the UK’s chief medical officers last week, which advise everybody not to exceed 14 units of alcohol a week.
That marks a step change in health advice, signalling that there is no safe limit to alcohol consumption. Booze is essentially in the same category as tobacco. The medical officers were at pains to stress that the advice is based on sound science. We broadly agree. In particular, it reflects a growing understanding of the cancer risk associated with alcohol, which escalates rapidly
other than to talk some more. But there are signs that the discussions are becoming more urgent. Nine nations have called for a ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems, and many others have stated that humans must retain ultimate control of robots. Against this background, COTSbot is a good thing – a chance to test claims about autonomy, accuracy, safety, hackability and so on in a relatively benign environment. It also offers an opportunity to demonstrate that autonomous robots can do good as well as bad. But the real significance is that it shows that Robocop is getting ever closer to reality, and it is time for the world to decide how to respond. n
the more you drink. For teetotal women, for example, the lifetime risk of breast cancer is 11 per cent. This rises to 13 per cent if they stay within the alcohol limits, but is 21 per cent at double the recommended amount. Public health bodies are right to turn this new understanding into firm advice. But it must remain that: advice. If the anti-alcohol lobby overreaches and tries to fight a war on booze, the public will quickly switch off. Like us, lobbyists should keep a lid on it. n 16 January 2016 | NewScientist | 5
LEADERS
LOCATIONS UK 110 High Holborn, London, WC1V 6EU Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1200 Fax +44 (0) 20 7611 1250 Australia Tower 2, 475 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, NSW 2067 Tel +61 2 9422 8559 Fax +61 2 9422 8552 USA 50 Hampshire St, Floor 5, Cambridge, MA 02139 Tel +1 781 734 8770 Fax +1 720 356 9217
Subscription Service For our latest subscription offers, visit newscientist.com/subscribe Customer and subscription services are also available by: Telephone +44 (0) 330 333 9470 Email [email protected] Web newscientist.com/subscribe Post New Scientist, Rockwood House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 3DH One year subscription (51 issues) UK £150 cONTACTS Contact us newscientist.com/contact Who’s who newscientist.com/people General & media enquiries Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] Editorial Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1202 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Picture desk Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1268 Display Advertising Tel +44 (0) 20 7611 1291 [email protected] Recruitment Advertising UK Tel +44 (0) 20 8652 4444 [email protected] UK Newsstand Tel +44 (0) 20 3148 3333 Newstrade distributed by Marketforce UK Ltd, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London E14 5HU Syndication Tribune Content Agency Tel +44 (0) 20 7588 7588 [email protected]
© 2016 Reed Business Information Ltd, England New Scientist is published weekly by Reed Business Information Ltd. ISSN 0262 4079. New Scientist (Online) ISSN 2059 5387 Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper and printed in England by Williams Gibbons (Wolverhampton)
Who pulls the trigger? It’s time to negotiate an international agreement on killer robots FORGET “you have 20 seconds to comply”. In 2016, the robots will simply track down their targets and shoot to kill, no questions asked. This isn’t the plot of a Robocop remake but real life on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, where a killer robot could soon be deployed against coral-wrecking starfish. Called COTSbot, it is one of the world’s most advanced autonomous weapons systems, capable of selecting targets and using lethal force without any human involvement (see page 35). A starfish-killing robot may not sound like an internationally significant development, but releasing it on to the reef would cross a Rubicon. COTSbot amply
demonstrates that we now have the technology to build robots that can select their own targets and autonomously decide whether to kill them. The potential applications in human affairs – from warfare to law enforcement – are obvious. This issue is rising up the international agenda. In April last year, the UN spent five days debating “lethal autonomous weapons systems” – the second such meeting in as many years. A third week of discussions will be held this April. Up to now the talks have been what pressure group Campaign to Stop Killer Robots describes as “aim low and go slow” – a talking shop that takes no decisions
A drop of hard advice IT’S sobering news. If you’re having a dry January – and about 2 million people in England and Wales are trying, according to the charity Alcohol Concern – you might want to think about making it permanent. That was one of the take-home messages of new guidelines issued by the UK’s chief medical officers last week, which advise everybody not to exceed 14 units of alcohol a week.
That marks a step change in health advice, signalling that there is no safe limit to alcohol consumption. Booze is essentially in the same category as tobacco. The medical officers were at pains to stress that the advice is based on sound science. We broadly agree. In particular, it reflects a growing understanding of the cancer risk associated with alcohol, which escalates rapidly
other than to talk some more. But there are signs that the discussions are becoming more urgent. Nine nations have called for a ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems, and many others have stated that humans must retain ultimate control of robots. Against this background, COTSbot is a good thing – a chance to test claims about autonomy, accuracy, safety, hackability and so on in a relatively benign environment. It also offers an opportunity to demonstrate that autonomous robots can do good as well as bad. But the real significance is that it shows that Robocop is getting ever closer to reality, and it is time for the world to decide how to respond. n
the more you drink. For teetotal women, for example, the lifetime risk of breast cancer is 11 per cent. This rises to 13 per cent if they stay within the alcohol limits, but is 21 per cent at double the recommended amount. Public health bodies are right to turn this new understanding into firm advice. But it must remain that: advice. If the anti-alcohol lobby overreaches and tries to fight a war on booze, the public will quickly switch off. Like us, lobbyists should keep a lid on it. n 16 January 2016 | NewScientist | 5