Drones and Global Order

Greetings from the ANU College of Asia & the Pacific where a panel is speaking on "Drones and Global Order: Reflections on Ukraine". This is to discuss the book "Drones and Global Order: Implications of Remote Warfare for International Society" (edited by Paul Lushenko, Srinjoy Bose, William Maley). Moderator, Professor John Blaxland, Head of the ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, pointed out that the book was prepared before the current conflict in Ukraine, and so is prescient. 

Lieutenant Colonel Paul Lushenko,  U.S. Army and Cornell University, mentioned that drones can be used to breech and protect national sovereignty. He nominated the General Atomics Reaper drone as the preeminent system. I suggest it is worth pointing out that the usefulness of this aircraft is reflected in its general design being widely copied by both allies and enemies.

Cecilia Jacob, Associate Professor, ANU International Relations, pointed out the dilemma that drones have been useful in response to conflicts short of war. However, the low cost of drones, and low risk for operators, may make war more likely. A positive point mentioned was using a drone to capture evidence for war crimes trials.

Emeritus Professor William Maley, ANU Diplomacy, reminded the audience that drones are not new, with the German V-1, being mass produced in 1944. As the Professor points out, the V-1 was not accurate enough, and the war did not continue long enough for its significance to be appreciated. Drones could be used for surveillance, material delivery, conventional military attack, attack on terrorist leadership, and drone swarms. On the last point I coached a team of Australian Navy, government and industry people working on swarm defence. Media reports suggest Ukraine used drones to distract the defenders of a Russian warship. 

Professor Maley commented that "Most people think of drones for delivering pizza, not bombs". This made me wonder what will be the effect of low cost mass-produced drones. Will this be like the effect smart anti-tank weapons have had in the Ukraine? What if both sides are supplied with thousands of small, disposable armed drones, which can loiter over a battlefield? I suggest a drone packaged in a disposable  larch tube similar in size and operation to an anti-tank missile would prove a popular product. This would be larger than the AeroVironment Switchblade, with a battery motor for loitering, and a rocket motor for attack.

Artificial intelligence and ethics: challenges and responsibilities

Greetings from the Australian National University in Canberra, where Brad Smith, Global President and Chief Legal Officer of Microsoft, is speaking on Artificial intelligence and ethics: challenges and responsibilities. In his introduction, the ANU VC expressed concern over the lack of broadband access around Canberra. He also mentioned the ANU 3AI Institute students who are looking at issues of technology and people (I am sitting in the audience with the students).

This is the second presentation this week on the implications of technology. Yesterday Lieutenant Colonel Keirin Joyce, UAS Sub-Program Manager for the Australian Army talked on "Drones for Good". He handed around a "Black Hornet Nano" advanced military drone, about the size of my thumb. He pointed out that such devices are not "intelligent", they only follow pre-programmed instructions. He also mentioned that drones had been used extensively for disaster relief in the recent Queensland floods.

Brad Smith also was downplaying the current state of AI. He suggested there had been and would not be a sudden achievement of AI. Instead increased computational power and access to data make AI gradually possible. He pointed out some AI is already in routine use, such as in cars for detecting people in the vehicle's path.

Brad Smith raised the issue of ethics with AI and weapons. While suggesting that the laws of war needed to take this into account, he had no specific proposals. I suggest a good start would be for Microsoft to call for China, the United States, and Russia to sign the Ottawa Treaty Banning Anti-Personnel Mines (Australia joined in 1999).

Brad Smith warned of a world like Nineteen Eighty-Four, with routine mass surveillance of the public, preventing free assembly. He proposed laws to limit such surveillance to where there is a court order or an imminent threat. However, Microsoft provides technology which could be used to create a surveillance state. One ethical approach would be for Microsoft to not supply its technology to countries which did not have suitable citizen protections.

Brad Smith ended by raising the issue of a need for a global approach to the issues. One of last slides in the presentation showed statues of Confucius, and Socrates, hinting at the differences of views between China and the West.

Well, I thought that was the end of the talk, but Brad Smith ended on a more positive note, by pointing out three Microsoft initiatives: AI for Earth, AI for Accessibility,  and AI for Humanitarian Action.

Large Scale Desktop Wireless Charging

Greetings from the Australian Academy of Science Shine Dome in Canberra, where the finalists in the Innovation ACT competition are giving their pitches to a panel of judges. One team which stood out was Pixelated Induction (PI) with large scale inductive charging.

PI claim to be able to deliver standard wireless charging for mobile devices, but on a scale suitable for airport lounges and cafes.

It occurred to me that one launch customer could be the military and other safety and security organizations, who need to have charged devices ready at all times. In 1996 I took a helicopter ride into the Coral Sea where USS Blue Ridge, was coordinating a joint US-Australian exercise. Personnel arrived on-board, like me, put their portable devices on long benches and then tried to get power so they could run the exercise. The result was a tangle of wires. Wireless charging would make this a bit easier.

Another IACT project with military and security application is Wildlife Drones. These are small robot helicopters (UAVs), with directional radio antennas. The drones automatically track radio tags attached to wildlife. The same technology could be used by the military to search for terrorists, improvised explosive devices and locating friendly forces. Drones could be launched from the ground, ship or aircraft. Wildlife Drones also need to consider how their technology could be misused: equipped with explosive and programmed with a mobile phone ID, the drone becomes an autonomous flying bomb, which will search for the phone and then detonate.