Decisions over life and death must be made by humans and not machines, US vice president JD Vance has said as he revealed his main concern over artificial intelligence was how it would change warfare.
Speaking at a US Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado, he told cadets to use technology to make them better “but never submit to it”.
The White House deputy also urged them to be “jealous and selfish” of their role as decision makers in conflict.
Vance, a Catholic, also referred to the recent major document issued by the Pope, which urged a cooling in competition and robust legal rules to govern the development of AI.
The first US pontiff expressed concern at the Vatican launch of the text that some autonomous weapons systems had advanced “practically beyond any human reach to govern them”.
There have previously been warnings in the UK Parliament about the need to regulate the use of advanced military technology, with the increasing deployment of drones on the battlefield.
The future use of AI and the cybersecurity risks posed has also caused tensions on civvy street.
There are reports of a rift within the White House after president Donald Trump’s sudden decision to pull an executive order he was due to sign on the emerging technology, amid industry concerns.
And former Google boss Eric Schmidt was recently booed by graduating University of Arizona students, fearful for their future job security, when he talked about the far-reaching impact of AI.
Referring to the many American students graduating at this time of year, most of them civilian, Vance told the air force cadets: “Almost none of them will have your responsibility, quite literally, (for) decisions over life and death.”
Acknowledging the concerns around machine learning, he added: “The thing I worry about most with AI is how it will change warfare.”
He supported the Pope in encouraging people “not to outsource the most important moral decisions to digital technology”.
You are the masters of warfare, and both your minds, but also your hearts, are the opposite of artificial
Vance said: “AI will inevitably change warfare, and of course, as you’ve learned over the last four years, it already has.
“But one of the things that makes Americans unique, that makes you as war fighters unique is that we wage war justly.
“But when I say that we, all of us, wage war justly, I mean fundamentally that you must do so, because you are the ones who execute, you are the ones who lead on the battlefield.
“You are the ones who ensure that our lethality in war, which is amazing and necessary, it also co-exists with our heart and with our conscience.”
He added: “It is an incredible burden to put on your shoulders, but it is one that we entrust to you with full confidence.
“And if the warfare of the future is to live up to the moral values of our ancestors, decisions over life and death must be made by humans and not machines.
“So as AI transforms the battlefield … I ask that you be jealous and selfish about your role as a decision maker in warfare.
“Use technology to make you better, but never submit to it.
“You are the masters of warfare, and both your minds, but also your hearts, are the opposite of artificial.”