- The Air Force has requested $5.8 billion in its budget to create AI-driven XQ-58A Valkyrie aircraft.
- The autonomous crafts are ideal for completing suicide missions and protecting pilots, the Air Force says.
- Human rights advocates say letting technology take lives crosses a moral boundary.
The Air Force is seeking a multibillion-dollar budgetary allowance to build between 1,000 and 2,000 unmanned aircraft powered by AI pilots.
XQ-58A Valkyrie aircraft are meant to serve as a robotic wingman to human airmen, providing cover and maneuvering around in scenarios where a flesh-and-blood pilot might struggle, The New York Times reported — and they’re ideal for suicide missions in which a human would be unlikely to return.
Later this year, the craft will be tested in a simulation where it will create its own strategy to chase and kill a target over the Gulf of Mexico, the Times reported…