Articles & Multimedia
Showing 21-40 of 66 Publications
-
CommentaryThe Lethal Autonomous Weapons Governmental Meeting (Part I: Coping with Rapid Technological Change)
This week nations meet at the United Nations to discuss lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), including robotic weapons that might hunt for targets on their own. It has bee...
By Paul Scharre
-
CommentaryThe United States Can Be a World Leader in AI. Here's How.
The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is upon us. Artificial general intelligence—machines that could perform the full range of intellectual tasks better than humans—are...
By Paul Scharre & Alexander Velez-Green
-
CommentaryWhy We Must Not Build Automated Weapons of War
Over 100 CEOs of artificial intelligence and robotics firms recently signed an open letter warning that their work could be repurposed to build lethal autonomous weapons — “ki...
By Paul Scharre
-
The trouble with trying to ban 'killer robots'
Last month more than 100 robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) company CEOs signed an open letter to the UN warning of the dangers of autonomous weapons. For the past thre...
By Paul Scharre
-
Killer Robots Drive Concern but Odds of Ban Less Clear
The past week has seen a flurry of news stories on “killer robots,” which wouldn’t be complete without the obligatory Terminator and Robocop images. Countries were supposed to...
By Paul Scharre
-
The Coming Drone Wars: A Headache in the Making for American Foreign Policy
In June, the United States shot down two Iranian-made armed drones used by Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. The fact that the shoot down (and the existence of the armed dron...
By Paul Scharre
-
CommentaryMaking Sense of Rapid Technological Change
Technology is changing our world at an astonishing pace. In the span of a few short years, the internet, mobile devices, and social media have transformed how we communicate a...
By Paul Scharre
-
Time for US to treat modern drones like aircraft, not missiles
President Trump’s decision last month to sell MQ-9B Guardian drones to India represents a significant shift in U.S. drone export policy. International transfers of drones like...
By Paul Scharre
-
Why Trump’s Military Buildup Is Not As Big As He Promises
Earlier this week the Trump administration announced it would seek a $54 billion increase in defense spending in an effort to make good on the president’s campaign promise to ...
By Paul Scharre
-
CommentaryRebuilding America's Military
President-elect Trump’s book The Art of the Deal applies the principles of negotiation to business, but they are universal to human nature. A century ago, a previous president...
By Paul Scharre & Lauren Fish
-
Phases of War and the Iraq Experience
The difficulties of applying the U.S. military’s phasing construct to the realities of conflict are rarely more evident than when examining the American experience in Iraq. Th...
By Kevin Shi & Paul Scharre
-
A Revolution in Artificial Intelligence
The Cipher Brief spoke with Paul Scharre about the rationale for, and complications presented by, the development of autonomous weapons systems that could eventually choose an...
By Paul Scharre
-
American Strategy and the Six Phases of Grief
In War on the Rocks, senior fellow Paul Scharre writes an op-ed discussing the military's phasing strategy and why it's no longer effective for today's challenges....
By Paul Scharre
-
The B-21 Bomber Should Be Unmanned on Day 1
While plans for the B-21 — née Long Range Strike-Bomber — have long included an unmanned option, Air Force officials have shown little interest in having that capability on Da...
By Kelley Sayler & Paul Scharre
-
Taking the Fight to "ISILSTAN": Displacing and Replacing ISIL in Eastern Syria and Western Iraq
More so than at any time in recent history, last month demonstrated the dichotomous nature of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) current situation. On the one h...
By Ilan Goldenberg, Nicholas Heras & Paul Scharre
-
The Smartphone Wars are Coming
We are living today in the midst of the greatest democratization of information since the invention of the printing press. Smartphones transform any person into a citizen repo...
By Paul Scharre
-
Yes, Unmanned Combat Aircraft are the Future
Will the next U.S. fighter aircraft be manned, contrary to the predictions of technologists and policymakers like Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus? That is the prediction of Co...
By Paul Scharre
-
The Morality of Robotic War
Earlier this month, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” was released in theaters across the United States, featuring Marvel comics superheroes battling evil robots powered by artificial...
By Michael Horowitz & Paul Scharre
-
It’s Time To Arm the Sunni Tribes
Iraq is collapsing. Last week, another major city – Ramadi – fell to the Islamic State, or ISIS. The loss is particularly painful as the U.S. paid a heavy price to liberate Ra...
By Paul Scharre
-
Scharre: Protect the X-47B to safeguard innovation
Last week, the Navy made aviation history for the second time in two years by accomplishing yet another first for unmanned aircraft: a fully autonomous aerial refueling. This ...
By Paul Scharre