*The Washington Post*

Advanced AI means weapons operating faster, leaving human operators and
their molasses reflexes behind. Roper said that because of the way AI
capabilities are accelerating, being behind means the United States might
never catch up, which is why he's pushing to move fast and get AI out into
combat.  “It doesn't make sense to study anything in the era of AI.  It's s
better to let the AI start doing and learning, because it's a living,
breathing system, very much like a human, just silicon based.''  [...]

The United States isn't alone in venturing into this territory. Nearly two
decades ago, Britain built a missile called the Brimstone that was meant to
go after enemy vehicles it selected on its own after being released from
British Tornado fighters. Two computer algorithms—not the pilots --
dictated its actions. Brimstone wasn't exactly an example of AI: Its
algorithms were written by people, whereas AI weapons will rely on code
computers write themselves—extensive programming that's nearly impossible
to review and verify. Still, when the missile was ready for use, British
commanders ” in the midst of combat in Ira-- were facing strong
public pressure about civilian casualties and worries about international
law. All military commanders, under the rules of war, must be able to show
that they discriminate between legal military targets and civilians,
something that's hard to do if the missile rather than a person is deciding
what to strike. Ultimately, Royal Air Force commanders chose not to deploy
the missile in Iraq, instead spending a year redesigning it to add a mode
allowing pilots to pick the targets.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/02/17/pentagon-funds-killer-robots-but-ethics-are-under-debate/

First companies were people, now AI is people. I thought it was just Soylent
Green that's people...