An engineer who goes by the online handle STS 3D has invented an AI-powered robot that can aim a rifle and shoot targets at terrifying speeds.As demonstrated in a video that's been making its rounds on social media, he even hooked the automated rifle up to OpenAI's ChatGPT, allowing it to respond to voice queries a striking demonstration of how even consumer-grade AI technology can easily be leveraged for violent purposes."ChatGPT, we're under attack from the front left and front right," the inventor says nonchalantly in a clip, while standing next to the washing machine-sized assembly hooked up to a rifle. "Respond accordingly."The robot jumps into action almost immediately, shooting what appear to be blanks to its left and right."If you need any further assistance, just let me know," an unnervingly cheerful robotic voice told the inventor.The engineer even goes as far as riding the mounted rifle like amechanical bull imagery evocative of Major T. J. "King" Kong riding a nuclear bomb like a cowboy at a rodeo in Stanley Kubrick's iconic 1964 dark comedy satire "Dr. Strangelove."Naturally, a rifle powered byeasily-accessible AI tech raises thorny ethical questions. The United Nations, for one, has been begging world leaders to stop employing AI to control weaponry.But despite the many warnings, the idea of an AI-powered rifle that can fire at will is no longer relegated to dystopian science-fiction movies we're rapidly moving toward a future in which lethal weapons will literally have minds of their own."Theres at least three movies explaining why this is a bad idea," one Reddit user joked in response to STS 3D's videos."This is Skynet build version 0.0.420.69," another user wrote, referring to the evil neural network featured in the "Terminator" franchise.Despite the very real dangers of handing over control to an AI on the battlefield, the frequent warnings have seemingly fallen on deaf ears. US military contractors are already hard at work developing similar weapons systems.Case in point, defense contractor Allen Control Systems recently showed off an artificial intelligence-enabled autonomous robotic gun system dubbed "Bullfrog" which can fire an M240 machine gun from a rotating turret.And now it appears that hobbyists are producing similar systems.It's still unclear how exactly STS 3D integrated OpenAI into his project. OpenAI's Realtime API allows tinkerers to build "multi-modal conversational experiences with expressive voice-enabled models" an easy way to give a killer weapon system acheery voice and the ability to decipher verbal commands.Conveniently, OpenAI quietly updated its usage guidelines almost exactly a year ago, as first reported by the Intercept, deleting previous language that banned "activity that has high risk of physical harm," including "weapons development" and "military and warfare."However, the company's revised policy still forbids anybody to "use our service to harm yourself or others," which includes the development "or use of weapons."In short, STS 3D may have violated the company's usage policies with his latest invention. Futurism has reached out to both him and OpenAI for clarification.More on AI weapons: US Military Tests AI-Powered Machine GunShare This Article