US-China tensions -- unmanned military craft raise risk of war

Proliferating autonomous systems in contested waters could spark accidental clashes

20190627 Sea Hunter.jpg

The trimaran Sea Hunter transited between Hawaii and San Diego without human intervention. (Handout photo from Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)

The immediate danger from militarized artificial intelligence isn't hordes of killer robots, nor the exponential pace of a new arms race.

As recent events in the Strait of Hormuz indicate, the bigger risk is the fact that autonomous military craft make for temping targets -- and increase the potential for miscalculation on and above the high seas.

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