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U.S. to spend $2 billion on artificial intelligence weapons

Weapons - Level 0

The USA will spend $2 billion on artificial intelligence for weapons. This is the most it has ever spent. It wants the most advanced weapons in the world - better than China's and Russia's. The USA wants weapons that will not make mistakes. An official said: "We think we can accelerate two decades of progress into five years."

The new weapons could make their own decisions, without any humans helping. This could mean innocent people being killed. These weapons can already choose targets on their own. Generals do not want to let the weapons decide which targets to attack. The generals want to do this.

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Weapons - Level 1

The USA will spend $2 billion on artificial intelligence (AI) weapons. This is the most it has ever spent. The Department of Defense wants the most advanced weapons in the world. It wants better weapons than China and Russia. Defense bosses want weapons generals can trust. These weapons must not make mistakes. An official said: "We think it's a good time to seed the field of AI. We think we can accelerate two decades of progress into five years."

The new weapons could make their own decisions, without any humans helping. This could be dangerous and could lead to innocent people being killed. These weapons can choose and attack targets and kill people. They can already use AI to choose targets on their own. Military generals do not want to let the weapons decide on which targets to attack. The generals want to do this.

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Weapons - Level 2

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The USA will spend up to $2 billion on artificial intelligence (AI) weapons in the next five years. This is the most it has ever spent on AI systems for weapons. The Department of Defense wants the most advanced weapons in the world. It wants better weapons than China's and Russia's. Defense bosses want weapons generals and commanders can trust and accept. These weapons must not make mistakes. A Department of Defense official said: "We think it's a good time to seed the field of AI. We think we can accelerate two decades of progress into five years."

Some of the new weapons could make their own decisions. This means their computer systems could make a decision without any humans helping. Many people think this is dangerous and could lead to innocent lives being lost. The Defense Department said these computer systems could, "independently select and attack targets with [deadly] force". It added that weapons using AI can now choose targets on their own. Military commanders do not want to let the weapons decide on the targets to attack. The commanders want to make those decisions.

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Weapons - Level 3

The United States Defense Department is going to spend up to $2 billion on artificial intelligence (AI) weapons over the next five years. This will be the most the department has ever spent on AI systems for weapons. The department wants to have the most advanced weapons in the world. It wants its weapons to be better than those of China and Russia. Defense bosses want future weapons to be trusted and accepted by military generals and commanders. They want to make sure weapons in the future do not make mistakes. Department official John Everett said: "We think it's a good time to seed the field of AI. We think we can accelerate two decades of progress into five years."

Some of the new AI weapons may be able to make and act on their own decisions. This means computer systems and algorithms could make a decision (without any human decision-making) to attack a target that could kill people. Many people think this is dangerous and could lead to innocent lives being lost. The Defense Department said AI technology could, "make it possible to develop and [use] autonomous systems that could independently select and attack targets with [deadly] force". It added that weapons using AI systems can currently choose targets on their own, but military commanders do not want to let the weapons decide on the targets to attack. The commanders want to make the final decision.

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