We're Fighting Killer Robots the Wrong Way

Here’s the good news about killer robots: Despite their near ubiquity in science fiction, they aren’t inevitable. 

The bad news is that stopping them is going to be much harder than simply banning government-sponsored research on them, as frequently proposed by technologists and nongovernmental organizations. Understanding why tells us a great deal about the massive impact that robotics and automation will have on every part of the 21st century.

But let’s start with some myth-busting. The most important misunderstanding about killer robots is that they will require military contracts to develop them. That’s because, unlike, say, stealth technology, much of what enables autonomous weapons is consumer tech being developed for the use of civilians by the likes of Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc.and drone makers such as 3DR.

Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal.