Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk Are Pretty Worried About AI Warfare; Probably Just Saw "Terminator"

Sounds like geniuses/ doomsdayers Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk just saw Terminator: Genisys.

Hawking, Musk and 1,000 other experts have signed a letter calling for a ban on “autonomous weapons” at the 2015 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires.

"Autonomous weapons select and engage targets without human intervention," the letter reads.

"Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has reached a point where the deployment of such systems is — practically if not legally — feasible within years, not decades, and the stakes are high: autonomous weapons have been described as the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms.”

Not spooked yet?

"Autonomous weapons are ideal for tasks such as assassinations, destabilising nations, subduing populations and selectively killing a particular ethnic group,” they collectively continue.

"If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow,” the letter concludes, unnervingly.

I'd like to point out that Elon Musk is leading the charge on driverless cars, but... okay then, I guess those ones won't try to take over humanity?

Other big names on the letter’s very-lengthy signature line include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and activist Noam Chomsky.

Though artificially intelligent weapons could limit the human toll of warfare, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW and NICTA, Toby Walsh, told ABC News that the human toll is precisely what keeps warfare contained.

"Personally, I believe warfare needs to stay horrific and brutal," he said.

"We need it to be so to ensure we only fight wars as a last resort.

"Politicians have to see body bags coming home and be prepared to justify why they risk the lives of our sons and daughters.”

Remember: there’s no fate but what we make, and other amusing Terminator quotes we can use to distract ourselves while the machines grow ever more powerful.