What are the dangers of artificial intelligence?

The first session will also be asking witnesses on the UK's capability to protect against the impact of AI on cyber security, and whether the law is sufficient to prosecute those who misuse AI for criminal purposes.

The second session will consider the current and potential military and defence applications of AI, including what degree of direct human control over the deployment and targeting of a weapon system should be required; and whether a ban on lethal autonomous weapons is needed.

These are among the key issues the House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence will be asking two panels of witnesses on Tuesday 28 November 2017.

The first panel will be at 3.30pm and the Committee will hear from:

• Dr Mark Briers, Strategic Programme Director for Defence and Security, The Alan Turing Institute
  The Defence and Security Programme is a collaboration of the Ministry of Defence (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and Joint Forces Command), GCHQ and The Alan Turing Institute to deliver data science research.
• Professor Christopher Hankin, Director, Institute for Security Science and Technology, Imperial College London
  Professor Hankin leads projects focussed on developing advanced visual analytics and providing better decision support to defend against cyberattacks. He is Chair of the Academic Resilience and Security Community and a member of the Cybersecurity Advisory Panel of the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre.

Questions the Committee is likely to ask include:

• Which type of applications of AI are more vulnerable to cyberattacks?
• Are AI researchers aware of how their research might be misused?
• Should adversarial AI attacks be taken into account when developing new AI applications? Will mandatory regimes of stress-tested or penetration testing be required? Once the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Bill have come into force, will the law be able to adequately prosecute those who use misuse AI for criminal purposes?

The second panel will be at 4.30pm and the Committee will hear from:

• Professor Noel Sharkey, Emeritus Professor of AI and Robotics and Professor of Public Engagement, University of Sheffield
  Professor Sharkey is best known as the chief judge on BBC TV's Robot Wars programme. He is also Co-Director of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics and Principal Spokesperson for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots.
• Major Kitty McKendrick, Visiting Fellow, Chatham House
  Major McKendrick is a British Army Officer. Her research areas of interest include defence, security and the application of artificial intelligence in military operations. Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute based in London. She will be speaking to the Committee in her capacity as an independent researcher.
• Dr Alvin Wilby, Vice-President Research, Technical and Innovation, Thales Group
  Thales designs and builds electrical systems and provides services for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security markets. It is the 10th largest defence contractor in the world, with 55 per cent of its total sales coming from military sales. In October 2017, Thales announced the creation of the Centre of Research and Technology in Artificial Intelligence eXpertise (cortAIx) in Montreal.

Questions the Committee is likely to ask include:

• How might the use of AI in military applications change the nature of warfare?
• Are non-state actors or rogue states like to use lethal autonomous or semi-autonomous AI applications?
• Can civilian AI applications be easily converted to military or offensive purposes?
• What ethical principles should companies developing AI systems for military and security applications use?
• Should the UK Government consider restricting the sale or export of particular AI systems for military applications?

These evidence sessions will take place at 3.30pm on Tuesday 28 November 2017 in Committee Room 4A of the House of Lords.

Last month the Committee published the written evidence it accepted into the inquiry. Click the link below to read this evidence, as well as the transcripts of the Committee's previous oral evidence sessions:

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/lords-select/ai-committee/publications/