Flash Wars: Autonomous Weapons, A.I. and the Future of Warfare Documentary

At the threshold of a dramatic escalation in new warfare technologies, Flash Wars takes an international perspective on the disturbing rise of lethal autonomous weapons.

AI's proponents promise greater efficiency and a dramatic increase of operational speed. So dramatic in fact that observers fear that AI-driven conflicts could escalate faster than human actors will be able to intervene. They point to scenarios from the financial markets where so called “Flash Crashes” – triggered by competing algorithms – have become frequent, but remain little understood.

Exploring the profound philosophical, legal, ethical, and material implications artificially intelligent instruments of death, Flash Wars features the insights of roboticists, soldiers, hackers, engineers, and others who all bring unique perspectives to this new paradigm of global conflict. Alternating between enthusiasm for technologies that could mitigate the need for human troops at a time when enlistment in the Western world is at historic lows, and existential horror for a future that could permit robots to K*ll without any human oversight, the film tracks the rise of intelligent machines in conflict zones around the world — from the trenches in Ukraine to the streets of New York and from the depths of cyberspace to the inner workings of the human brain.

Join Wfmu's Techtonic DJ Mark Hurst for an in depth discussion at the end of the film with Director Daniel Andrew Wunderer.

All Proceeds Benefit WFMU

WFMU Radio’s Monty Hall, located at 43 Montgomery Street in downtown Jersey City (mere steps from the Exchange Place PATH station).

Host or Publisher WFMU