https://doctorow.medium.com/ayyyyyy-eyeeeee-4ac92fa2eed
"It didn’t happen.
The story you heard, about a US Air Force AI drone warfare simulation in which
the drone resolved the conflict between its two priorities (“kill the enemy”
and “obey its orders, including orders not to kill the enemy”) by killing its
operator?
It didn’t happen.
The story was widely reported on Friday and Saturday, after Col. Tucker “Cinco”
Hamilton, USAF Chief of AI Test and Operations, included the anaecdote in a
speech to the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) Summit.
But once again: it didn’t happen:
“Col Hamilton admits he ‘mis-spoke’ in his presentation at the FCAS Summit
and the ‘rogue AI drone simulation’ was a hypothetical “thought experiment”
from outside the military, based on plausible scenarios and likely outcomes
rather than an actual USAF real-world simulation,” the Royal Aeronautical
Society, the organization where Hamilton talked about the simulated test,
told Motherboard in an email.
The story got a lot more play than the retraction, naturally. “A lie is halfway
round the world before the truth has got its boots on.”
Why is this lie so compelling? Why did Col. Hamilton tell it?
Because it’s got a business-model."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
