The Coming Wave: AI, Power, and Our Future

by Mustafa Suleyman

In November 2020, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was the head scientist and linchpin of Iran’s long effort to attain nuclear weapons. Patriotic, dedicated, highly experienced, he was a prime target for Iran’s adversaries. Cognizant of the risks, he kept his whereabouts and movements cloaked in secrecy with help from Iran’s security services. Driving in a heavily guarded convoy down a dusty road to his country house near the Caspian Sea, Fakhrizadeh’s motorcade suddenly screeched to a halt. The scientist’s vehicle was hit by a barrage of bullets. Wounded, Fakhrizadeh stumbled out of his car, only to be killed by a second burst of machine-gun fire that tore through him. His bodyguards, members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, scrambled to make sense of what was happening. Where was the shooter? A few moments later there was an explosion, and a nearby pickup truck erupted into flames. The truck, however, was empty save for a gun. There were no assassins on the ground that day. In the words of a New York Times investigation, this was a “debut test of a high-tech, computerized sharpshooter kitted out with artificial intelligence and multiple-camera eyes, operated via satellite and capable of firing 600 rounds a minute.” Mounted on a strategically parked but innocuous-looking pickup truck fitted with cameras, it was a kind of robot weapon assembled by Israeli agents. A human authorized the strike, but it was the AI that automatically adjusted the gun’s aim. Just fifteen bullets were fired and...

No Gunman in Sight: Assassination by Algorithm