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Horror Short Film “Slaughterbots” | ALTER

ALTER0 HN recommenders · 2020–2026
2.3M views · other · evergreen · Uploaded 2019-01-17

Slaughterbots, a short dystopian film in which swarms of small autonomous drones are programmed to kill targets matching a profile. It opens as a slick product launch before turning into a terror scenario.

Used as a reference point in discussions of autonomous weapons, as a once-sci-fi scenario that now looks prescient.

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8 comments from Hacker News

@0-_-02020 · in “Turkey Now Has Swarming Suicide Drones It Could Export”

A suicide drone can be used to take out any individual anywhere on the planet, fully remotely and untraceably with minimal collateral damage, while radar, missles and explosives can't. The scenario depicted in the film below is getting closer to reality: [VIDEO] Although the above is overdramatised, it's not unrealistinc.

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@searchableguy2020 · in “Turkey Now Has Swarming Suicide Drones It Could Export”

This reminds me of the video released a year ago - [VIDEO] Next thing you know there is an AI detecting crime and killing the criminal without making a mess.

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@anonporridge2021 · in “Toxic people could become a reality, scientists researching snake venom say”

Seriously, [VIDEO] Human 'soldiers' are really only going to be useful in the near future for infiltrating and disrupting social systems, not for dispensing physical violence.

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@sebmellen2021 · in “Drones may have attacked humans fully autonomously for the first time”

For those who can't find the video on the page: [LINK] . As hn_throwaway_99 mentions below, the "Slaughterbots" video is not too far off from how STM presents their equipment: [VIDEO] .

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@snthd2021 · in “EU Chatcontrol 2.0 [video]”

It's not enough (but it's still a good idea). "Slaughterbots" ( [VIDEO] ) shows a terror angle for some of what technology can do (drones).

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@kvetching2023 · in “Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut It All Down”

Slaughterbot mini kamikaze drones were hypothesized 5 years ago - [VIDEO] AI & drone tech is fast enough that it would be trivial to build these now

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@grues-dinner2025 · in “Teacher AI use is already out of control and it's not ok”

Even then, Slaughterbots did it first: [VIDEO] And you probably don't need fiber optic, because you're operating in "owned space" - the drones sit on charging platforms until needed. You can have, say, additional access points embedded in the walls and ceilings (for a price, but it's children's safety, so who are we to say base station rental is worth more that little Timmy not getting a 5.56 in the back in a signal blackspot!?)

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@kleiba2026 · in “Claude AI Helped Bomb Iran. But How Exactly?”

Quick reminder of the "Slaughterbots" video from 9(!) years ago, when the content was still sci-fi. Well, we're catching up... [VIDEO]

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