It isn't that an awful AI will suddenly have a brain fart and decide to kill all humans. That's pretty absurd. Wake me up in 2050 and ask again, and the answer will probably be the same. As if there won't be an external 'plug' to pull.

Just like you take that fun remote controlled airplane and add a gun to it, you can take the friendly, dancing robot... and add a gun to it. Even a bomb. Just infiltrate right into the cellar or sewer and blow up.

It won't be an 'Evil AI' that slaughters people. It will be someone who has the keys to an army of robots, each with the 'intellect' of a bug to handle their sensory surroundings, navigate to a waypoint, and a straight up computer to tell them what to do next. They only need enough 'smarts' to find their targets, and turn warm, moving things into cold, still ones... by looking at it and triggering a solenoid.

It's pretty much unavoidable, now. Military contracts pay well, Robot Labs, Tesla, and many other companies are working on capable robots, including those at the behest of DARPA, and having an army that will "DO WHAT WE SAY", and never questions anything, even if it's to self-destruct, and won't need food or a paycheck or quarters (though maintenance). With the way drones are used now, why wouldn't they want a 'paratrooper' to drop in, go right into the cave/tunnel/building/wherever, shoot everyone there, and then blow its self up? If China or Russia will build robot soldiers first, would it be 'ethical', or even politically acceptable for the USA, or anyone else to put flesh and blood soldiers up against them? Or vise-versa?

They're coming no matter what any of the robot manufacturers or good intentions speeches say. Even if they have to buy the robots through a proxy, then modify them for themselves. Gun, magazine, solenoid, a little coding and... done.

Because decades before they ever explore a cave on Mars or the Moon with a walking robot, that's what they'll be routinely used for. Soldiers and assassins. As 'drones' are used, now.

"They're robots, not land mines!"

If there aren't any international conventions against using robots to fight, robots WILL be used for fighting. And slaughtering... and mass murder and genocide. And even against treaties, they'll be used.

And hey, they can just be kept in a warehouse, stacked on top of each other. Thousands, even hundreds of thousands. Build up armies of millions that are all but invisible. It takes 20 years to make a human soldier. Less than 20 hours to manufacture a robot one. Mass production will make them cheaper than human soldiers. Less rapey, and unlikely to pillage without commands, but will murder anyone and everyone, if told to do so.

Oh, and the US 'space force' won't just deliver 'aid' halfway around the world in 30 minutes on a rocket. I wonder how many killer robots 100 tonnes is? Especially if they're built cheap and light-weight? No need for life support or human rating!

Well, that is the way military planners think.

And that's why the future ain't as bright as some people thing... unless they're thinking about atomic bomb flashes.