COMMENTARY: Opening the Replicator Program’s Pandora’s Box
12/27/2023
By Dr. James Giordano
China’s ongoing dedication to developing unmanned vehicles for military applications has prompted the United States’ unveiling of the Replicator program — an initiative described by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks to “master the technology of tomorrow” by creating and employing “attritable, autonomous systems in all domains.”
While Hicks was quick to assure that these technologies will be “in line with our responsible approach to AI and autonomous systems,” the use of such systems can be seen as a Pandora’s box, from which emerge initial perceptions that the use of these technologies may decrease human costs of engagement but will also prompt questions of whether, and to what extent, such systems may affect thresholds and tolerances for their engagement in “drone warfare.”
The use of drones of any sort — non-autonomous, semi-autonomous or autonomous — may reduce national governments’ and societies’ tolerance for conflict and war for several reasons. These include tactical and/or strategic considerations of the battlefield effectiveness and efficiency of such systems in warfare, risks of human casualties incurred by their use and net incentives through which a society’s tolerance for conflict can be seen as a relative calculus of perceived necessity, expected value of the gains from success, losses from failure and the impacts of material and human costs from potential outcomes.
https://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?action=post;board=60.0
