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The microdrones in the video could be defeated by something as simple as chicken wire. The video shows heavier-payload drones blasting holes through walls so that other drones can get inside, but the solution is simply layered defenses." Scharre also stated that
Russell's implied proposal, a legally binding treaty banning autonomous weapons, "won't solve the real problems humanity faces as autonomy advances in weapons. A ban won't stop terrorists from fashioning crude DIY robotic weapons
358:
experts, continue to find plausible the view that autonomous weapons can become scalable weapons of mass destruction. Scharre's claim that a ban will be ineffective or counterproductive is inconsistent with the historical record. Finally, the idea that human security will be enhanced by an unregulated arms race in autonomous weapons is, at best, wishful thinking."
370:
opined that "Perhaps the most nightmarish, dystopian film of 2017 didn't come from
Hollywood". McFarland also stated that the debate over banning killer robots had taken a "sensationalistic" turn: In 2015, "they relied on open letters and petitions with academic language", and used dry language like
357:
In
January 2018, Stuart Russell and three other authors responded to Scharre in detail. Their disagreement centered primarily on the question of whether "slaughterbots", as presented in the video, were "potentially scalable weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)". They concluded that "We, and many other
349:
disputed the feasibility of the video's scenario, stating that "Every military technology has a countermeasure, and countermeasures against small drones aren't even hypothetical. The U.S. government is actively working on ways to shoot down, jam, fry, hack, ensnare, or otherwise defeat small drones.
218:
can be programmed to seek out and eliminate known individuals or classes of individuals (such as individuals wearing an enemy military uniform). A tech executive pitches that nuclear weapons are now "obsolete": a $ 25 million order of "unstoppable" drones can kill half a city. As the video unfolds,
261:. Edinburgh was chosen because the filmmakers "needed streets that would be empty on a Sunday morning" for the shots of armed police patrolling deserted streets, and because the location is recognizable to international audiences. All of the drones were added in post-production.
242:
to turn into weapons of mass destruction automatically because you can launch as many as you want... and so we thought a video would make it very clear." Russell also expressed a desire to displace the unrealistic and unhelpful
Hollywood
316:
is skeptical that arms control could prevent such a militarization of drone swarms: "As someone said of nuclear weapons after the first one was detonated, the only secret worth keeping is now out: the damn things work".
892:
308:
agreed that "slaughterbots" may become feasible in the foreseeable future: "In 2008, a spy drone that you could hold in the palm of your hand was an idea from science fiction. Such drones are now commonplace
226:
The dramatization is followed by a forty-second entreaty by
Russell: "This short film is more than just speculation; it shows the results of integrating and miniaturizing technologies that we already have
288:
that weighs less than 30 grams, but that has the downside of being easily disturbed by its own reflected turbulence when too close to a wall. Another candidate is something like Salto, a 98-gram
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35:
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profiles. In one scene, the swarming drones coordinate with each other to gain entrance to a building: a larger drone blasts a hole in a wall to give access to smaller ones.
438:
230:... AI's potential to benefit humanity is enormous, even in defense, but allowing machines to choose to kill humans will be devastating to our security and freedom."
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the technology get re-purposed by unknown parties to assassinate political opponents, from sitting congressmen to student activists identified via their
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188:(2021), presented additional hypothetical scenarios of attacks on civilians, and again called on the UN to ban autonomous weapons that target people.
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330:, tested a 3-gram shaped charge on a head model and concluded that "injuries are so severe that the chances of survival are very small".
354:... In fact, it's not even clear whether a ban would prohibit the weapons shown in the video, which are actually fairly discriminate."
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was actively working on pre-operational prototypes that would make swarms of autonomous lethal drones available to the US military.
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is a 2017 arms-control advocacy video presenting a dramatized near-future scenario where swarms of inexpensive
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312:... When DCIST wraps up in 2022, the idea of Slaughterbots may seem a lot less fictional than it does now."
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conception of autonomous weapons with something more realistic. The video was produced by Space
Digital at
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166:, the video quickly went viral, garnering over two million views and was screened at the United Nations
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The sequel video, published 30 November 2021, had over two million views on YouTube by 8 December.
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649:"Artificially Intelligent Drones Become Terrifying Killing Machines in Dystopian Short Film"
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to assassinate political opponents based on preprogrammed criteria. It was released by the
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990:"A New Video Explains, in Graphic Terms, Why the United Nations Must Ban 'Slaughterbots'"
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841:"Killer drone attacks filmed in Edinburgh to highlight artificial intelligence fears"
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in relation to the U.S. MAST and DCIST microdrone programs. MAST currently has a
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The film's implication that swarms of such "slaughterbots" — miniature, flying
1046:
1018:
759:""As much death as you want": UC Berkeley's Stuart Russell on "Slaughterbots""
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494:
285:
258:
705:"UC Berkeley professor's 'slaughterbots' video on killer drones goes viral"
787:"Film produced by Hertfordshire University staff and students goes viral"
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was not not available, as of 2017, but that is starting to change, with
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499:
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According to
Russell, "What we were trying to show was the property of
163:
371:"armed quadcopters". Now, in 2017, "they are warning of 'slaughterbots
731:"Watch out for 'killer robots,' UC Berkeley professor warns in video"
919:"DARPA's Dream of a Tiny Robot Army is Close to Becoming a Reality"
385:
from a tweet during his 2020 U.S. Presidential primary candidacy.
619:"Watch 'Slaughterbots,' A Warning About the Future of Killer Bots"
334:
195:
593:"Autonomous Weapons Are Here, but the World Isn't Ready for Them"
938:"'Slaughterbots' film shows potential horrors of killer drones"
367:
210:-style near future. Small, palm-sized autonomous drones using
524:"UC Berkeley professor's eerie lethal drone video goes viral"
1038:
576:
579:
IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and
Science News
563:
IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News
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IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News
204:
The dramatization, seven minutes in length, is set in a
16:
This article is about a video. For a type of robot, see
680:"Ban on killer robots urgently needed, say scientists"
439:"Military robots are getting smaller and more capable"
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Pages displaying wikidata descriptions as a fallback
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and directed by Stewart Sugg with location shots at
963:"Andrew Yang calls for global ban on killer robots"
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400: – Series of explosions in Lebanon and Syria
1032:Why You Should Fear 'Slaughterbots' — A Response
560:Why You Should Fear 'Slaughterbots' — A Response
893:""Einstein" bei den Robotern - TV - Play SRF"
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415: – Autonomous military technology system
8:
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200:Students attempt to flee lethal microdrones
869:"Fake news? Lethal effect of micro drones"
168:Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
34:
25:
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181:in the near future proved controversial.
815:"Edinburgh used for 'killer drone' film"
470:"Why You Shouldn't Fear 'Slaughterbots'"
425:
406: – episode of Black Mirror (S3 E6)
1047:Slaughterbots – if human: kill()
1026:Why You Shouldn't Fear 'Slaughterbots'
703:Mikelionis, Lukas (21 November 2017).
345:In December 2017, Paul Scharre of the
186:Slaughterbots – if human: kill()
617:Oberhaus, Daniel (13 November 2017).
158:, a professor of computer science at
7:
936:McFarland, Matt (14 November 2017).
988:Mizokami, Kyle (8 December 2021).
468:Scharre, Paul (22 December 2017).
347:Center for a New American Security
170:meeting in Geneva the same month.
14:
917:McMillan, Tim (1 December 2020).
764:Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
729:May, Patrick (20 November 2017).
574:Scharre, Paul (1 February 2018).
323:Swiss Drones and Robotics Centre
678:Ian Sample (13 November 2017),
522:Ting, Eric (18 November 2017).
320:In April 2018 the governmental
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398:2024 Lebanon pager explosions
1084:2010s English-language films
280:assessed the feasibility of
179:weapons of mass destruction
148:facial recognition software
1100:
99:12 November 2017
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581:. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
565:. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
175:lethal autonomous weapons
33:
792:Hertfordshire University
413:Lethal autonomous weapon
255:Hertfordshire University
152:Future of Life Institute
18:Lethal autonomous weapon
144:artificial intelligence
1034:(Russell, et al, 2018)
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591:Knight, Will (2021).
404:"Hated in the Nation"
270:Technical feasibility
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177:— could become real
554:; Conn, Ariel; and
341:Threat plausibility
1069:Films about drones
849:. 21 November 2017
821:. 21 November 2017
795:. 28 November 2017
558:(23 January 2018).
503:. 12 November 2017
445:, 14 December 2017
366:Matt McFarland of
362:Cultural reception
240:autonomous weapons
212:facial recognition
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1050:(2021) on YouTube
1022:(2017) on YouTube
994:Popular Mechanics
969:. 1 February 2020
767:. 5 December 2017
647:Dvorsky, George.
550:Russell, Stuart;
274:In December 2017
216:shaped explosives
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1079:Viral videos
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997:. Retrieved
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945:. Retrieved
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901:. Retrieved
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851:. Retrieved
846:The Scotsman
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687:, retrieved
684:The Guardian
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658:. Retrieved
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630:. Retrieved
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600:. Retrieved
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556:Tegmark, Max
531:. Retrieved
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333:As of 2020,
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298:drone swarms
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207:Black Mirror
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115:Running time
92:Release date
46:Stewart Sugg
999:31 December
973:31 December
899:(in German)
602:31 December
379:Andrew Yang
286:cyclocopter
251:MediaCityUK
140:microdrones
67:Narrated by
62:Matt Nelson
59:Produced by
43:Directed by
1064:2017 films
1058:Categories
947:21 January
903:2018-05-31
878:2018-05-31
853:21 January
825:21 January
799:21 January
771:21 January
740:21 January
714:21 January
689:21 January
660:21 January
632:21 January
625:Vice Media
533:21 January
507:21 January
479:21 January
449:21 January
420:References
381:linked to
304:. Overall
246:Terminator
234:Production
184:A sequel,
103:2017-11-12
78:Production
51:Written by
23:2017 film
265:Reception
259:Edinburgh
119:8 minutes
54:Matt Wood
942:CNNMoney
897:Play SRF
819:BBC News
709:Fox News
392:See also
221:Facebook
192:Synopsis
160:Berkeley
124:Language
654:Gizmodo
500:YouTube
257:and in
164:YouTube
127:English
101: (
80:company
528:SFGate
352:
310:
228:
597:Wired
335:DARPA
162:. On
1001:2021
975:2021
949:2018
855:2018
827:2018
801:2018
773:2018
742:2018
716:2018
691:2018
662:2018
634:2018
604:2021
535:2018
509:2018
481:2018
451:2018
214:and
154:and
146:and
142:use
375:".
368:CNN
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992:.
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20:.
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