Killer robots will not be sentient human robots with evil intent. Then what are they up for?

Dolly is the latest in a long line of killer robot films – including HAL in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 robot in the Terminator series. In fact, the conflict between robots and humans was at the center of the very first feature film, Fritz Lang's 1927 classic Metropolis. But almost all of these movies get it wrong. Killer robots will not be sentient human robots with evil intent. This could make for a dramatic story and a box office success, but such technologies are decades, if not centuries, away. In fact, contrary to recent fears, robots may never be sentient. There are much simpler technologies we should worry about. And these technologies are beginning to appear on the battlefield today in places like Ukraine and Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to Science alert, six leading robotics companies pledged they would never weaponize their robot platforms. The companies include Boston Dynamics, which makes the Atlas humanoid robot, which can perform an impressive backflip, and the Spot robot dog, which looks like it's straight out of the Black Mirror TV series.

This isn't the first-time robotics companies have spoken out about this worrying future.

Five years ago, Elon Musk and more than 100 founders of other AI and robot companies signed an open letter calling for the United Nations to regulate the use of killer robots. The letter even knocked the Pope into third place for a global disarmament award.

However, the fact that leading robotics companies are pledging not to weaponize their robot platforms is more virtue signaling than anything else.

We have, for example, already seen third parties mount guns on clones of Boston Dynamics' Spot robot dog.

And such modified robots have proven effective in action. Iran's top nuclear scientist was assassinated by Israeli agents using a robot machine gun in 2020.