Schar School Scholar Warns of Existential Threats to Humanity by Terrorists

Andrew J Schappert — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 14:38:45 +0000

Schar School Scholar Warns of Existential Threats to Humanity by Terrorists Andrew J Schappert Fri, 07/07/2023 - 10:38

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As artificial intelligence and drones become increasingly ubiquitous, Zachary Kallenborn—a policy fellow at ��AV's Schar School of Policy and Government—stands at the cutting edge of researching how terrorists might use these emerging technologies to wipe out humanity.

Zak Kallenborn: His job is to be ‘interested in the highest risk scenarios that could have the biggest effect on society.’

In the last few days, he’s received coverage in Forbes and Newsweek for an essay he co-wrote that dissects the threat of existential terrorism to our national security—and the world.

Kallenborn is also featured in a new documentary series debuting on Netflix in July, Unknown: Killer Robots, which examines how AI represents, or not, a threat to mankind.

The rapidly circulating peer-reviewed study that has gripped the media describes existential terrorism as the desire to inflict damage of a magnitude so catastrophic that it threatens humanity’s survival. Even if the likelihood of such an event is minor, Kallenborn said it is vital to ask, “What if terrorists wanted to destroy all of humanity—what would that look like?” Most terrorists, he noted, are likely not interested in humanity’s annihilation “because [they] have constituencies and things they want to achieve.” Still, the possibility lingers.

As an officially proclaimed Army Mad Scientist—one of a network of experts exploring advanced warfare capabilities—and an authority on drone swarms and killer robots, it’s his job to be “interested in the highest risk scenarios that could have the biggest effect on society,” he said. Yet, Kallenborn maintains a flair for the comedic. He describes himself in his Twitter bio as an “analyst in horrible ways people kill each other.”

Before graduating high school, Kallenborn was a published mathematician, but he was still looking for “something that would be directly useful for people’s day-to-day lives,” he said. Studying the “horrible” ways we kill one another was something he stumbled on in college. “My notion of national security was like Jack Bauer-style guys,” he said referencing the action television show 24. “I didn’t really see it as an academic thing.”

But after hearing a talk on cybersecurity in his freshman year at the University of Puget Sound in Washington, he was hooked. Promptly adding a major in international relations, Kallenborn interned in chemical and biological warfare at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, where he developed a fascination with cataclysmic terrorism. (Later, by coincidence, he discovered drone swarm technology was not science fiction and quickly set out to become an expert on the topic.)

While drones are not a new technology, Kallenborn noted that their capacity for integration with artificial intelligence could form drone swarms capable of communicating and collaborating autonomously. Moreover, their affordability and versatility make them a formidable weapon of war.

In the war in Ukraine, for example, drones offer an inexpensive alternative for air combat weapons. Russia, he said, has “been using cheap drones to essentially saturate Ukrainian defenses.” Likewise, Kallenborn says Ukrainian forces have used drones to guide artillery strikes.

“The problem is that current artificial intelligence is very brittle,” he said. “Researchers have shown that a single pixel change can cause a mission vision system to confuse a stealth bomber with a dog.” In the event of an error, “you get not only death to civilians … but we also have escalation dynamics that come along with that.”

So, will drones and AI eventually destroy us all? After a chuckle, Kallenborn calmly replied, “No. But I think it’s a plausible enough scenario that it’s worth taking seriously.”

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Terrorism

Zak Kallenborn

Schar School of Policy and Government

Schar School News July 2023

Artificial Intelligence

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Soto-Harmon: Schar School Alumna Named Leader of National Conservation Nonprofit

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 16:59:15 +0000

Soto-Harmon: Schar School Alumna Named Leader of National Conservation Nonprofit Andrew J Schappert Tue, 06/06/2023 - 12:59

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Alan J. Abramson

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Lidia Soto-Harmon: She hopes to connect fellow MPA grads ‘to the work we are doing to inspire the next generation of conservation leaders.’

When Lidia Soto-Harmon graduated from ��AV in 1991 with her Master of Public Administration degree, she knew her education had “set the stage for me to become an effective leader,” she said.

She wasn’t kidding: Soto-Harmon’s resume spans decades as she’s served with public-facing organizations including the Fannie Mae Foundation, literacy nonprofit First Book, and the President’s Interagency Council on Women established by President Bill Clinton. In addition, she spent 18 years at the regional council for Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital, including 12 years as the chapter’s CEO.

But most recently, the Schar School of Policy and Government alumna was named the next president and CEO of the Student Conservation Association (SCA), a national conservation nonprofit founded in 1957 and headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, that provides hands-on environmental conservation programs to more than 2,000 youth and young adults each year.

Speaking of her time at Mason, Soto-Harmon, a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, said that her Schar School degree provided “a comprehensive understanding of the tools needed to thrive in the nonprofit space and make an impact.”

Her conviction to shape the future of nonprofit leadership is self-evident: She chairs the MPA Advisory Council at the Schar School and returned to Mason during the pandemic to teach a graduate-level nonprofit management seminar.

Now at the helm of one of the largest conservation nonprofits for youth in the country, she said she’s looking forward to connecting “MPA students at George Mason to the work we are doing to inspire the next generation of conservation leaders.”

The admiration between alumna and alma mater is mutual.

“The Schar School's MPA program is very proud to call Lidia Soto-Harmon an alumna and wishes her well in her new position at the Student Conservation Association,” said Alan J. Abramson, director of the Schar School’s Center on Nonprofits, Philanthropy, and Social Enterprise. “The association is fortunate to have this smart, passionate, warm leader as its new executive.”

Soto-Harmon received the 2014 Wayne F. Anderson Award for Distinguished Public Service from Mason, an honor reserved for those dedicated to “embodying the spirit of public service.”

If you’re interested in what a Master of Public Administration degree could do for your career, click here.

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alumni

Master of Public Administration

Schar School News June 2023

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Bennett Freeze

Schar School Scholar Warns of Existential Threats to Humanity by Terrorists

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Soto-Harmon: Schar School Alumna Named Leader of National Conservation Nonprofit

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