https://www.dw.com/en/artificial-intelligence-cyber-warfare-drones-future/a-57769444 * * We use cookies to improve our service for you. You can find more information in our data protection declaration. More info OK 1. Inhalt 2. Navigation 3. Weitere Inhalte 4. Metanavigation 5. Suche 6. Choose from 30 Languages * Albanian Shqip * Amharic 'amaarenyaa * Arabic l`rby@ * Bengali baaNlaa * Bosnian B/H/S * Bulgarian B'lgarski * Chinese (Simplified) Jian * Chinese (Traditional) Fan * Croatian Hrvatski * Dari dry * English English * French Francais * German Deutsch * Greek Ellenika * Hausa Hausa * Hindi hindii * Indonesian Indonesia * Kiswahili Kiswahili * Macedonian Makedonski * Pashto pStw * Persian frsy * Polish Polski * Portuguese Portugues do Brasil * Portuguese Portugues para Africa * Romanian Romana * Russian Russkii * Serbian Srpski/Srpski * Spanish Espanol * Turkish Turkce * Ukrainian Ukrayins'ka * Urdu rdw Wrong language? Change it here DW.COM has chosen English as your language setting. DW.COM in 30 languages DW AKADEMIE ABOUT DW DW.COM Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle [ ] * TOP STORIES + Germany o Berlin Wall + Coronavirus + World o Europe o Africa # Crime Fighters # The 77 Percent # Africa on the Move o Asia o Americas o Middle East + Business o Founders Valley + Science + Environment o Global Ideas o Living Planet + Culture o Film o Books o Music o Arts o Digital Culture o Lifestyle o Travel o BTHVN2020 + Sports SPECIAL + 100 Must-Reads + 50 kitchens, one city + Baking Bread + DW Freedom + Expedition Humboldt + Meet the Germans + Planet Berlin * Media Center + Live TV + All media content + Latest Programs + Podcasts * TV + Schedule and Reception + TV Programs TV programs + Arts.21 + Arts and Culture + Business + Check-in + Close up + Conflict Zone + Covid-19 Special + DocFilm + DW News + Eco Africa + Eco India + Euromaxx + Faith Matters + Focus on Europe + Global 3000 + In Good Shape + Kick off! + Made in Germany + Reporter + REV + Shift + Sports Life + The Day + The 77 Percent + Tomorrow Today + To the Point + World Stories * RADIO * LEARN GERMAN German Courses + German Courses + Quick start + Harry + Deutsch Interaktiv + Radio D + Mission Europe + Deutsch - warum nicht? + Audiotrainer + Deutschtrainer + Die Bienenretter German XXL + German XXL + Deutsch Aktuell + Deutsch im Fokus + Telenovela + Bandtagebuch + Landeskunde Community D + Community D + Das Portrat + Podcasts & Newsletter + Service Teaching German + Teaching German + DW im Unterricht + Unterrichtsreihen + Deutschlehrer-Info * Germany * Coronavirus * World * Business * Science * Environment * Culture * Sports TOP STORIES / World Advertisement World Germany warns: AI arms race already underway The world is entering a new era of warfare, with artificial intelligence taking center stage. AI is making militaries faster, smarter and more efficient. But if left unchecked, it threatens to destabilize the world. Combat drone in flight as seen from above 'Loitering munitions' with a high degree of autonomy are already seeing action in conflict An AI arms race is already underway. That's the blunt warning from Germany's foreign minister, Heiko Maas. "We're right in the middle of it. That's the reality we have to deal with," Maas told DW, speaking in a new DW documentary, "Future Wars -- and How to Prevent Them." It's a reality at the heart of the struggle for supremacy between the world's greatest powers. "This is a race that cuts across the military and the civilian fields," said Amandeep Singh Gill, former chair of the United Nations group of governmental experts on lethal autonomous weapons. "This is a multi-trillion dollar question." Great powers pile in This is apparent in a recent report from the United States' National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. It speaks of a "new warfighting paradigm" pitting "algorithms against algorithms," and urges massive investments "to continuously out-innovate potential adversaries." And you can see it in China's latest five-year plan, which places AI at the center of a relentless ramp-up in research and development, while the People's Liberation Army girds for a future of what it calls "intelligentized warfare." As Russian President Vladimir Putin put it as early as 2017, "whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world." But it's not only great powers piling in. Much further down the pecking order of global power, this new era is a battle-tested reality. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas: 'We have to forge international treaties on new weapons technologies' Watershed war In late 2020, as the world was consumed by the pandemic, festering tensions in the Caucasus erupted into war. It looked like a textbook regional conflict, with Azerbaijan and Armenia fighting over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. But for those paying attention, this was a watershed in warfare. "The really important aspect of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, in my view, was the use of these loitering munitions, so-called 'kamikaze drones' -- these pretty autonomous systems," said Ulrike Franke, an expert on drone warfare at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Image of combat drone in flight 'Loitering munitions' saw action in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war Bombs that loiter in the air Advanced loitering munitions models are capable of a high degree of autonomy. Once launched, they fly to a defined target area, where they "loiter," scanning for targets -- typically air defense systems. Once they detect a target, they fly into it, destroying it on impact with an onboard payload of explosives; hence the nickname "kamikaze drones." "They also had been used in some way or form before -- but here, they really showed their usefulness," Franke explained. "It was shown how difficult it is to fight against these systems." Research by the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that Azerbaijan had a massive edge in loitering munitions, with more than 200 units of four sophisticated Israeli designs. Armenia had a single domestic model at its disposal. Other militaries took note. "Since the conflict, you could definitely see a certain uptick in interest in loitering munitions," said Franke. "We have seen more armed forces around the world acquiring or wanting to acquire these loitering munitions." Image showing a number of combat drones in flight AI-driven swarm technology will soon hit the battlefield Drone swarms and 'flash wars' This is just the beginning. Looking ahead, AI-driven technologies such as swarming will come into military use -- enabling many drones to operate together as a lethal whole. "You could take out an air defense system, for example," said Martijn Rasser of the Center for a New American Security, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. "You throw so much mass at it and so many numbers that the system is overwhelmed. This, of course, has a lot of tactical benefits on a battlefield," he told DW. "No surprise, a lot of countries are very interested in pursuing these types of capabilities." The scale and speed of swarming open up the prospect of military clashes so rapid and complex that humans cannot follow them, further fueling an arms race dynamic. As Ulrike Franke explained: "Some actors may be forced to adopt a certain level of autonomy, at least defensively, because human beings would not be able to deal with autonomous attacks as fast." This critical factor of speed could even lead to wars that erupt out of nowhere, with autonomous systems reacting to each other in a spiral of escalation. "In the literature we call these 'flash wars'," Franke said, "an accidental military conflict that you didn't want." Image of red versus white plane icons overlayed on a grid Experts warn that AI-driven systems could lead to 'flash wars' erupting beyond human control A move to 'stop killer robots' Bonnie Docherty has made it her mission to prevent such a future. A Harvard Law School lecturer, she is an architect of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, an alliance of nongovernmental organizations demanding a global treaty to ban lethal autonomous weapons. "The overarching obligation of the treaty should be to maintain meaningful human control over the use of force," Docherty told DW. "It should be a treaty that governs all weapons operating with autonomy that choose targets and fire on them based on sensor's inputs rather than human inputs." The campaign has been focused on talks in Geneva under the umbrella of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which seeks to control weapons deemed to cause unjustifiable suffering. It has been slow going. The process has yielded a set of "guiding principles," including that autonomous weapons be subject to human rights law, and that humans have ultimate responsibility for their use. But these simply form a basis for more discussions. Docherty fears that the consensus-bound Geneva process may be thwarted by powers that have no interest in a treaty. "Russia has been particularly vehement in its objections," Docherty said. But it's not alone. "Some of the other states developing autonomous weapon systems such as Israel, the US, the United Kingdom and others have certainly been unsupportive of a new treaty." * Terminator robot from the famous film Technologies that revolutionized warfare AI: 'Third revolution in warfare' Over 100 AI experts have written to the UN asking them to ban lethal autonomous weapons -- those that use AI to act independently. No so-called "killer robots" currently exist, but advances in artificial intelligence have made them a real possibility. Experts said these weapons could be "the third revolution in warfare," after gunpowder and nuclear arms. * Painted scene of British soldiers fighting France during the Napoleonic Wars Technologies that revolutionized warfare Gunpowder The "first revolution in warfare" was invented by the Chinese, who started using the black substance between the 10th and 12th centuries to propel projectiles in simple guns. It gradually spread to the Middle East and Europe in the following two centuries. Once perfected, firearms using gunpowder proved to be far more lethal than the traditional bow and arrow. * Scene from the siege of Mainz following the French Revolution in 1793 Technologies that revolutionized warfare Artillery The invention of gunpowder also introduced artillery pieces to the battlefield. Armies started using basic cannons in the 16th century to fire heavy metal balls at opposing infantrymen and breach defensive walls around cities and fortresses. Far more destructive field guns were invented in the 19th century and went on to wreak havoc in the battlefields of World War I. * British soldiers with a machine gun in the trenches during WWI Technologies that revolutionized warfare Machine guns Guns that fire multiple rounds in rapid succession were invented in the late 19th century and immediately transformed the battlefield. Machine guns, as they came to be known, allowed soldiers to mow down the enemy from a protected position. The weapon's grisly effectiveness became all too clear in WWI as both sides used machine guns to wipe out soldiers charging across no man's land. * WWI - Biplans fly in formation Technologies that revolutionized warfare Warplanes Military thinkers did not ignore the invention of the first airplane in 1903. Six years later, the US military bought the first unarmed military aircraft, the 1909 Wright Military Flyer. Inventors experimented with more advanced fighter and bomber aircraft in the following years. Both became standard features in many of the national air forces established by the end of WWI. * German tanks and military transport during the German invasion of Poland during WWII Technologies that revolutionized warfare Mechanization Armies had traditionally used soldiers and horses to fight and transport military equipment. But around WWI, they started using more machines such as tanks and armored vehicles. Faster and more destructive armies were the result. Nazi Germany put this new form of "mechanized warfare" to destructive effect in WWII using an attack strategy known as "Blitzkrieg" ("lightning war"). * V-2 rocket launch Technologies that revolutionized warfare Missiles Although artillery was effective, it had a relatively limited range. The missile's invention in WWII suddenly allowed an army to strike a target hundreds of kilometers away. The first missile -- the German V-2 -- was relatively primitive, but it laid the foundation for the development of guided cruise missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) capable of carrying nuclear warheads. * US jets fly over Korea in 2017 Technologies that revolutionized warfare Jet engine Jet aircraft first saw action alongside traditional propeller airplanes at the end of WWII. Jet engines dramatically increased an aircraft's speed, allowing it to reach a target quicker and making it far harder for an adversary to shoot it down. After WWII, military reconnaissance planes were developed that could fly higher than 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) and faster than the speed of sound. * French atom bomb test near Mururoa Technologies that revolutionized warfare Nuclear weapons The "second revolution in warfare" announced its horrific arrival on August 6, 1945 when the US dropped the first nuclear bomb -- "Little Boy" -- on the city of Hiroshima in Japan, killing between 60,000 and 80,000 people instantly. In the Cold War that followed, the US and Soviet Union developed thousands of even more destructive warheads and raised the specter of a devastating nuclear war. * German soldier works with a radar screen Technologies that revolutionized warfare Digitization Recent decades have witnessed the ever more prevalent use of computers to conduct war. The devices made military communication quicker and easier and radically improved the precision and efficiency of many weapons. Armed forces have recently focused on developing cyber warfare capabilities to defend national infrastructure and attack foreign adversaries in cyberspace. Author: Alexander Pearson Time for a rethink? Docherty is calling for a new approach if the next round of Geneva talks due later this year makes no progress. She has proposed "an independent process, guided by states that actually are serious about this issue and willing to develop strong standards to regulate these weapon systems." But many are wary of this idea. Germany's foreign minister has been a vocal proponent of a ban, but he does not support the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. "We don't reject it in substance -- we're just saying that we want others to be included," Heiko Maas told DW. "Military powers that are technologically in a position not just to develop autonomous weapons but also to use them." Maas does agree that a treaty must be the ultimate goal. "Just like we managed to do with nuclear weapons over many decades, we have to forge international treaties on new weapons technologies," he said. "They need to make clear that we agree that some developments that are technically possible are not acceptable and must be prohibited globally." German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in DW interview Germany's Heiko Maas in DW interview: 'We're moving toward a situation with cyber or autonomous weapons where everyone can do as they please' What next? But for now, there is no consensus. For Franke, the best the world can hope for may be norms around how technologies are used. "You agree, for example, to use certain capabilities only in a defensive way, or only against machines rather than humans, or only in certain contexts," she said. Even this will be a challenge. "Agreeing to that and then implementing that is just much harder than some of the old arms control agreements," she said. And while diplomats tiptoe around these hurdles, the technology marches on. "The world must take an interest in the fact that we're moving toward a situation with cyber or autonomous weapons where everyone can do as they please," said Maas. "We don't want that." For more, watch the full documentary Future Wars on YouTube. DW recommends Margin of Error: AI, Polling and Elections The goalposts are about to move in the game of public opinion polling. This film examines how a startup called Advanced Symbolics (ASI) uses artificial intelligence (AI) and social media data to forecast voter behavior. EU unveils AI rules, seeking global standards Brussels has announced tougher rules to regulate the rapidly spanning field of artificial intelligence. Aspiring to catch up with China and the US, the EU hopes the regulation dispels myths surrounding the technology. Scorched earth: The climate impact of conflict Militaries around the world are under pressure to rapidly reduce their own outsized carbon "bootprint" to help limit global heating -- and future climate conflict. Audios and videos on the topic EU unveils rules on artificial intelligence Future wars -- and how to prevent them Recruitment software is racist and sexist * Date 07.06.2021 * Author Richard Walker * Related Subjects Drone, Artificial intelligence, How do we change? , #DailyDrone - UNESCO World Heritage * Keywords artificial intelligence, drone, autonomous weapons, Nagorno-Karabakh, arms control, future * Send us your feedback. * Print Print this page * Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3uOTE Advertisement Facebook Offizielles Logo DW News on Facebook 11.07.2017 Twitter Offizielles Logo Follow @dwnews on Twitter 11.07.2017 * TOP STORIES * Germany * Coronavirus * World * Business * Science * Environment * Culture * Sports * * A - Z Index * MEDIA CENTER * Live TV * All media content * Latest Programs * Podcasts * TV * Schedule and Reception * TV Programs * * RADIO * LEARN GERMAN * German Courses * German XXL * Community D * Teaching German * ABOUT DW * Who we are * Press * GMF * Business & Sales * Advertising * Travel * SERVICE * Reception * Apps & Co. * Newsletters & Co. * FAQ * Contact * * DW AKADEMIE * About us * Media Development * Master's Degree * Traineeship * Training (c) 2021 Deutsche Welle | Privacy Policy | Legal notice | Contact | Mobile version