Unmanned drones are nothing new when it comes to warfare.
The USA alone deployed thousands of drones in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, where remote operators have used them to conduct remote strikes from the air on members of the Taliban and Al-Quaida.
While drones have given the US military a tactical advantage in these conflicts, they have also been heavily criticised for their links to civilian casualties.
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That's perhaps why the news that the US air force has developed facial recognition technology for its drones has been met with more than a little fear and scepticism.
NewScientist reports that the Air Force can now equip its autonomous drones with the AI-powered technology, which could reduce the role of human operators and allow self-piloting drones to carry out attacks and executions themselves.
A contract between the US Department of Defense and Seattle tech firm RealNetworks says they will use the technology for 'special ops' missions and to "open the opportunity for real-time autonomous response by the robot".
Combined with self-piloting capabilities, it could mean drones will be able to fly themselves, select targets, and execute them with little to no involvement from a human.
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This could be an enormously risky use of an emerging technology which doesn't always get things right.
There are already several instances of people being wrongly arrested due to a facial recognition algorithm misidentifying them, including Nijeer Parks in New Jersey, who spent 10 days in jail in 2019.
While facial recognition tech is improving, it still isn't perfect. With lives at stake during drone strikes and missions, this kind of technology could prove very dangerous for innocent people—with very little accountability if things go wrong.
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