Netflix’s latest documentary, Killer Robots dives into the dangers that Artificial Intelligence presents when it’s used in military applications.
Story
Unknown: Killer Robots takes the viewers into the rapidly evolving world of AI and the dangers that it’s increasingly offering with its military application.
The documentary shows drone technology being incorporated by AI by the militaries worldwide, with the application extending to even the private sector and local police departments as well.
It also takes the viewers to the dangers that the autonomous killer robots proffer while sweeping claims of attenuated dangers in wars and conflicts are made by experts, researchers, and military guys.
A horrific sequence delves into the biochemical dangers that AI can unleash onto humans before a pilot is shown dueling with an AI aircraft, ultimately losing it, among other several ethical and existential dangers that seem imminent.
Positives
The documentary manages to effectively convey the horrors of the AI application and use when wielded by the wrong hands, even though it doesn’t contemplate or criticize all that much these wrong hands that lead the world of said technology.
To convey the aforementioned horrors and concerns, it uses a fast-paced delivery of facts and information that does make the affair Insightful when it comes to the different ways the AI is going to prove perilous.
Negatives
There are moments when the documentary makes an effort at highlighting the negatives of AI and its application for military purposes, but they are so fleeting and few that the grand picture just comes across as an unintended glorification of the military.
This just comes across as problematic considering the victims of autonomous killing machines have been suffering well-documented tragedies at the hand of US military drones. The documentary mentions it too but again does it so in not-so-effective ways.
The overall presentation is just poor and lends most to the dissonance. The message, which itself isn’t as strong and articulate, is defied time and again by the storytelling that focuses more on enthused researchers and experts than the horrific realities that autonomous killing machines are already resulting in.
The background music makes the binge off-putting at times with its sensational tonality and sometimes even peppy, upbeat sonority
Verdict
Unknown: Killer Robots delves into the advancements in AI as well as the perils that its military and nefarious applications present, but it all seems surface-level with the presentation. It does a poor job of communicating the gravity of the ethical violations that the aggressors and leaders in AI advancements have been committing for decades.
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