Artificial Intelligence – New AI Lab Working on Wonder Weapons for Putin

The Russian news agency TASS reported on Wednesday that the army has set up a new department to develop artificial intelligence for weapons research. Alexander Osadchuk, head of the main military innovations department of the Russian Armed Forces, wants to use it to force the “use of AI technologies in the interest of creating new models of weapons and special equipment”.

President Putin, who has been waging a war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine for six months, also sees a lot of potential in AI. In a conversation with students four years ago, Putin explained that he saw “colossal opportunities and dangers” in AI systems. Those who lead in this field will rule the world in the future.

AI arms race also in China and the US
Russia’s AI weapons research lab is also likely a response to a Pentagon project, where an AI weapons research program was established in February. It has been in full operation since June. In turn, the Pentagon’s program should be understood as a response to China’s AI ambitions, according to the weapons magazine “C4ISRNET”, citing the US think tank “Govini”.

The Washington think tank analyzes: The outcome of the “intensification of the techno-military confrontation between the US and the People’s Republic of China” will not be determined by which side builds the better weapons. Rather, it is about “who can best use critical new technologies” – such as artificial intelligence, drones and other autonomous military systems.

Russian interest in drones is growing
Russia is also showing a growing interest in autonomous systems: the Kremlin recently bought 46 Shahed 129 combat drones in Iran and apparently already uses them in Ukraine. Russia is also working on autonomous weapons: a few days ago, the RIA Novosti news agency reported about a Russian four-legged combat robot intended to target armored vehicles.

However, social media promptly speculated that the robot, which was wrapped in black cloth, was actually from China. The few visible components are reminiscent of a model sold through online retailer AliExpress. Cost point: about $3700.

The background to Russia’s interest in autonomous weapon systems and drones may also be Ukraine’s successes against Putin’s invasion force: In February, Bayraktar TB2 combat drones and drone squadrons fighting with guerrilla methods halted the Russian advance towards Kiev by pushing the supply lines to a halt. to fall. The Russian army had to completely change its strategy and has been concentrating on eastern Ukraine ever since.

Researchers warn against artificial AI weapons
Artificial intelligence’s ability to spot patterns in massive amounts of data could be used not only in conventional weapons research, but also in chemical weapons research. A few months ago, researchers from the US pharmaceutical company Collaborations Pharmaceuticals showed that AI is effective in this area: They used an AI system, which would normally test whether a molecule can be used as a medicine, to seek new chemical warfare. agents. The template for the desired substances was the neurotoxin VX.

The result of the experiment: Within six hours, the AI ​​system identified 40,000 molecules that could be considered chemical warfare agents. The list prepared by the AI ​​contained not only known chemical weapons but also previously unknown substances. The researchers’ conclusion should also be taken as a wake-up call: a “non-human generator of a deadly chemical weapon is completely feasible”.

The researchers called for an ethical debate in AI because of their results – the AI ​​used freely available information in the experiment. And they are not alone with this demand: In November 2019, Russian President Putin called for consideration of a code of ethics for AI applications at an AI conference in Moscow. Social aspects and consequences of AI algorithms are “a very important topic”.