Artificial intelligence vs popular intelligence. The Italians about “autonomous” weapons between intuitions and fears

Abstract

In the race for supremacy in artificial intelligence (AI), a hidden but crucial role
is played by military applications. By promising to transform the battlefield into a
duel between machines, AI seeks offers decision-makers the possibility of preventing
public aversion to the losses of war. Social implications remain critical, as human
action becomes adiaphoric (Bauman, Lyon, 2014). According to Archivio Disarmo’s
survey Difebarometro, a representative sample of Italian citizens expresses
apprehension about these applications of AI and the associated risks (i.e. impossibility
of being accountable for one’s own decisions, ease of recourses to war), while
two respondents out of three consider essential maintaining human control over such
sensitive technologies.