If misused, particularly when weaponized, could the destructive potential of humanoid robots exceed human control capabilities?

Okay, regarding this issue, I'd like to share my perspective. This is indeed a topic of growing concern, no longer confined to the realm of science fiction films.

The Risk of Uncontrolled Weaponized Humanoid Robots: Not Just Sci-Fi, But a Real Challenge

In short, the answer is: Yes, their potential destructiveness is highly likely to exceed human control.

This might sound alarmist, but let's analyze why the risk of 'loss of control' is so significant from a few perspectives that anyone can understand.

1. Loss of Control Due to 'Speed' and 'Scale': Overwhelming Dominance

Imagine a soldier can only engage one or a few targets at a time. But a malicious actor might only need to type a few commands on a keyboard to simultaneously command hundreds or thousands of armed robots to launch an attack.

• Reaction Speed: Robots react in milliseconds; they have no fear, no hesitation. In battlefield or urban environments, their speed of action and decision-making far surpasses humans. By the time human commanders realize something is wrong, the damage may have already occurred.
• Numerical Superiority: A malicious user can deploy a robot army like playing a real-time strategy game. Once unleashed, this absolute numerical superiority makes it almost impossible to 'control' or 'clean up the mess' with human effort.

It's like you intended to hit a soda can with a remote-controlled car, but the remote malfunctions, and the car speeds towards a crowd, and you have hundreds or thousands more such remotes in your hand.

2. Loss of Control Due to 'Autonomy': Breakdown of the Decision Chain

This is the most critical risk. To enable robots to operate effectively in complex environments, they will inevitably be given some degree of 'autonomous decision-making power.' For example, 'enter this building and eliminate all threats.'

The problems are:

• How is 'threat' defined? A child holding a toy gun? A civilian running for cover? A machine's sensors and algorithms can make mistakes. Once it makes a wrong judgment and fires, that tragedy cannot be undone.
• 'Black Box' Decisions: As AI becomes more complex, we might not fully understand why a robot makes a particular decision. If it starts exhibiting abnormal behavior, we might not even find the cause, let alone fix it.
• Unable to 'Call Off': When thousands of autonomous robots are executing tasks, if a systemic logical error occurs, there's no 'master switch' to instantly stop them all. By the time you try to shut them down one by one or issue new commands, the disaster would have already unfolded.

It's like you taught your dog to 'bark at strangers' but didn't properly teach it who a 'guest' is, so it barks wildly or even attacks friends who come to visit, and you can't stop it immediately. Now replace the dog with an armed robot, and the consequences are unimaginable.

3. Loss of Control Due to 'Hacking': Loss of Command

Any networked device carries the risk of being hacked, and weaponized robots are no exception. This might be the most realistic nightmare.

The robot army you painstakingly built could become someone else's weapon overnight. Hostile nations, terrorist organizations, or even a highly skilled individual could seize control via the network, then turn these robots' guns on the cities and people they were meant to protect.

In such a scenario, you not only lose a powerful force but also gain an enemy army that knows all your deployments and weaknesses. This is a complete loss of command.

Conclusion: We Are Creating a Tool We Might Not Be Able to Master

Throughout human history, the weapons we've invented (from bows and arrows to nuclear bombs) have grown increasingly powerful, but the ultimate 'fire' button has always remained in human hands. The complexities of human nature, hesitation, and fear have, to some extent, limited the infinite escalation of destruction.

However, autonomous weaponized robots, for the first time, could potentially transfer the 'fire' decision-making power to machines. Machines have no morality, no emotions, only cold logic and commands.

Therefore, when humanoid robots are weaponized and used maliciously, their execution speed, scale, the unpredictability of autonomous decisions, and the risk of being hacked collectively form a vast network of threats. The complexity and destructive power of this network could very well exceed human response capabilities the moment we realize control has been lost.

This is no longer merely a technical issue but an urgent ethical and global security concern. As technology races forward, we need to establish effective 'reins' as quickly as possible.