Ottawa’s Killer Robot Problem

Host Sam spent a day at Canada's biggest defence trade show asking about autonomous weapons.

The good news: Canada says humans must always be part of the decision to kill. The bad news: nobody can define what that means, the US just voted against a UN resolution banning killer robots, and Pete Hegseth wants the Pentagon to be an "AI-first warfighting force."

Sam talks to an AI researcher, an underwater robot CEO, a defence contractor who tells it like it is, and an ethicist who somehow remains hopeful.

Have a tip? sam@canadaland.com

Host: Noor Azrieh

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Max Collins (Director of Audio) Jesse Brown (Editor), Tony Wang (Artwork)

Guests: Jason Millar, Randy Goebel

Background reading:

• For Canada, the march of the killer robots is getting hard to avoid | The Logic
• Judge temporarily blocks Pentagon's blacklist of AI company Anthropic | CBC News
• At Canada’s biggest weapons show, the soldiers were the target | Globe and Mail
• Canada’s largest arms expo drawing record turnout as Ottawa boosts defence spending

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