Slaughterbots
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN cites it whenever drone swarms or autonomous weapons come up, as a dramatized warning that now feels increasingly plausible.
What it is
An 8-minute fictional short film, made by campaigners for a ban on autonomous weapons, depicting swarms of cheap AI-guided micro-drones used to kill targeted people. It ends with a call to action against autonomous weapons.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2018 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends pierrec · 2018-10 · on “The Era of the Drone Swarm Is Coming”
I'm surprised there's no mention of the short film "Slaughterbots" on this exact topic: [this video] It's very well done and has an HN vibe to it (with a dark twist, of course).
Recommends amarcheschi · 2024-12 · on “Slaughterbots – if human: kill() [video]”
There is another slaughterbots video that's worth watching, [this video] There's also a real video by anduril industries about this not anymore fictional scenario [LINK]
Cites fabianhjr · 2018-04 · on “Google Workers Urge C.E.O. To Pull Out of Pentagon A.I. Project”
The problem emerges when an actor most become a monster to win, sort of like Mutually Assured Destruction. I think that scifi shorts have the duty and power to show us the paths that certain developments entail. For example: - Slaughterbots: [this video] - Last Day of War: [LINK]
Cites trumped · 2018-05 · on “Boston Dynamics will start selling its dog-like SpotMini robot in 2019”
Have you seen the Slaughterbots video? They seem potentially more dangerous and the hardware is much simpler: [this video]
Cites Diederich · 2021-01 · on “Drone Swarms Are Getting Too Fast for Humans to Fight, U.S. General Warns”
I know it is rather sensationalized, but how far off is this kind of technology? [this video] "Slaughterbots" posted in 2017. If I had to guess, I'd say that the tiny drones in this video still aren't capable of carrying the computational horsepower necessary for a lot of the activities portrayed. But...isn't it really a matter of time?
Cites tgsovlerkhgsel · 2021-07 · on “Killer Flying Robots Are Here. What Do We Do Now?”
Killer bees are in S02E06 "Hated in the Nation", [LINK] There is another one with killer dogs in an apocalyptic wasteland (in black and white), S04E05 "Metalhead". The short film "Slaughterbots" ( [this video] ) fits it even more precisely though, I'd say.
Cites EastOfTruth · 2021-10 · on “Autonomous drone navigates independently through the forest at 40 km/h”
We are getting closer to a slaughter bot that is actually usable: [this video] my guess is that politicians will get scared when it becomes a reality
Cites imglorp · 2022-04 · on “A story about planning for Desert Storm”
I think it depends, right? If you have a small number of high cost, high impact UAVs, you will target infra and supply columns. If you happen to have a cargo plane full of cheap, mass produced head-popper slaughterbots which you can dump over a town, they will remove all the humans and leave you with intact buildings, vehicles, and infra. [this video]