Given that NASA-Ames is now developing a superhuman AI (SHAI) and might have it in as soon as 10 years, there is no doubt that the major militaries of the world are now working on secret SHAI projects. Private, also secret projects, especially by the high tech billionaires of the world could be doing the same. Without inferring sinister motives to these people it is reasonable to conclude that a secret SHAI represents a great threat to the public. SHAI's could advance nanosurveillance and nanocontrol technologies a thousand years in just a few years of real time. The temptation would be too great to "just try them out" on the public, even rationalized by military leaders saying "We must do this to find out what the enemy might do". Given Raymond Kurzweil's prediction that 20,000 years of scientific progress will be made before the end of 2099, can we be sure that a military like that of the US which has a total budget of $150 b/yr. does not have an SHAI now?
Given that it would be impossible to effect a moratorium on secret and private SHAI projects, shouldn't we pressure the governments of the world to give the public some protection by having public inquiries into the SHAI-state-of-the-art?
The Washington Bureau Chief of Janes made various comments about military AI on "Robots Among Us" (Discovery TV, May 23/01 in Vancouver). One had to do with an often repeated concern, ie "will the technology control us?" But he voiced others as well. It will be interesting to see how Janes reports on military AI in years to come from its offices in various countries.