US Military Tests AI-Powered Machine Gun

What could go wrong?

Gun Bots

US Defense Department contractor Allen Control Systems (ACS) has developed an artificial intelligence-powered autonomous robotic gun system called the "Bullfrog," which can target small drones using proprietary computer vision software.

As Wired reports, the Defense Department tested out the system during the Technology Readiness Experimentation event earlier this year, which allows contractors like ACS to showcase their prototype technologies to the Pentagon.

Recent footage shows the vehicle-mounted gun shooting small drones out of the sky with ease.

And that kind of capability is more relevant than ever as small, uncrewed aircraft are becoming increasingly common on the battlefield.

"During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we saw the proliferation of drones on both sides of the conflict, and we read in various news outlets the Ukrainians were firing AK-47s in the air at them," ACS cofounder and CEO Steve Simoni told Wired. "We thought, ‘That’s a good robotics problem.’ It's hard to hit something flying so fast, but a robot can do that with modern-day computer vision and AI control algorithms."

Computer Kill

According to Simoni, the goal was to remove humans from the equation entirely, particularly considering how fast these uncrewed drones can fly.

"We are electrical engineers, and we decided that in order to solve this problem of hitting a fast drone that's accelerating at five Gs at a couple hundred yards, you would need an incredibly high-end current that goes through a motor and encoders that know the position of your gun at all times," he told Wired. "To put that form factor in the hands of someone with an M4 seemed like a very tough problem."

ACS' Bullfrog system is part of a much larger trend. The US military is dabbling in a whole range of remotely controlled and semi-autonomous weapons systems to shoot adversary drones out of the sky. Earlier this year, for instance, the US Army started experimenting with rifle-equipped robot dogs at a testing facility in the Middle East.

The contractor claims the Bullfrog is incredibly cheap to use, especially compared to far more complicated and expensive laser or microwave weapons systems.

So far, humans are still required to give the Bullfrog the green light before it can open fire. That's because there are strict policies when it comes to the use of lethal autonomous weapons.

However, ACS is keen to reassure the military that it's technically capable of fully autonomous operation.

"Our system is fully autonomous-capable, we’re just waiting for the government to determine its needs," ACS’s chief strategy officer Brice Cooper told Wired.

But when or if those needs will change remains to be seen. Plenty of thorny ethical questions remain surrounding the use of such autonomous weapons.

"Anything with robotics requires software to make the determination of friend or foe, and that's a concern with anything that's automated," former congressional defense appropriator Mike Clementi told Wired. "The use of fully automated systems would be “uncharted territory. There's always been a person in the loop before."

More on AI and guns: The US Army Is Testing Killer Robot Dogs With AI