AI Researcher Claims Autonomous Weapons Are Cheapest and Biggest Near-Term Threat

What was said

"I think autonomous weapons are the biggest risk. I think war has become so cheap. The next wave of weapons is going to be $20,000 each. And so if you have a budget of $50 billion, you can literally rain drones on the world, every corner of it."

Gowdat identified AI-powered autonomous weapons as a more immediate danger than job displacement, noting that warfare costs have plummeted with drone technology. He warned that affordable autonomous weapons will proliferate globally, creating a new arms race where even smaller nations can deploy devastating military force at scale.