The drone-joystick-operator combo already exists and would seem to be exactly what you wanted for that scenario. Weaponry is a bit of an issue if you're not the government, but the project at issue didn't have anything to do with that.
Good image recognition is a step towards not needing a human operator and that could change a lot. It's no longer a 1:1 or even 1:10 relationship with a human organization. They're more like intelligent mines that can be manufactured and deployed in bulk. They're no longer dependent on a radio signal and can lie in wait indefinitely on a roof somewhere for a good ambush.
No doubt he makes it sound easier than it is; tech often has unexpected limitations. But, it seems like it would be hard to show that it couldn't happen. It seems well worthwhile to try to ban the things (similar to mines).
Because I thought we were talking about CNN based image recognition in the real world, here.
Could you explain to me, in a few short steps, how we get from there to skynet? I'm assuming this involves top military brass just blithely taking humans out of the loop in drastic contradiction to 75 years of established US aerospace culture?
Seriously, I want to hear something convincing about why I'm wrong on this. There must be something.
It is a bit weird that people will work on drones as open-source tech and not for the U.S. military. With the open source stuff, anyone could use it.
This is likely to require more stringent security. But heck, who really needs to go outside anyway?