Swiss Researchers Warn About Autonomous Weapons

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Could science fiction one day become a reality? Richard Jones/science Photo Library

Switzerland is positioning itself as a hub to develop AI technology in drones. Scientists are flagging the risk that these algorithms are used for military purposes.

This content was published on March 29, 2023 March 29, 2023 minutes Marguerite Meyer and Ariane Lüthi

A bombarded town appears on the screen. As troops come under attack, a soldier calls for reinforcement:“Send the Lanius!” Eight small drones take off, approach enemy forces and kill them, one by one.

This is not a war movie but a scene from a promotional clip for the Israeli arms company Elbit Systems. Lanius, Latin for“butcher”, is a kamikaze drone system equipped with artificial intelligence (AI). It can navigate autonomously, find its way through narrow gaps in buildings, and recognise human targets. The weapon still needs human intervention to attack but technically it already has the capability to make the decision to kill by itself.

Sitting in his office at the University of Zurich's campus in Oerlikon, Davide Scaramuzza acknowledges:“When my team and I saw the Elbit video, we were shocked.” The similarity of his own research with the technology shown in Elbit's videos is hard to miss. In a video produced by his university videoexternal link , a drone darts around in a forest, buzzes between buildings and flies through a window. The professor is in charge of research at the Robotics and Perception Group. He and his team are worldwide leaders in the field. Their work includes AI applications for drones that make them more agile in GPS-deprived and complex environments.

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