AAR Japan finds that technological developments aimed at lowering cost and risk to human soldiers as well as increasing speed and efficiency have led to the development
of autonomous weapons systems with various levels of human control.
Not exact matches
Last month, a group
of over 50 AI scientists, including those from UC Berkeley and the Max Planck Institute, signed an open letter to the Korea Advanced Institute
of Science and Technology (KAIST), announcing a boycott against the university due to its recent partnership
with South Korea's largest defense company, Hanwha
System, to open a Research Center for the Convergence
of National Defense and Artificial Intelligence, which will aim to «develop artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to be applied to military
weapons, joining the global competition to develop
autonomous arms.»
Government delegates attending next week's annual meeting
of the Convention on Conventional
Weapons (CCW) at the United Nations in Geneva will decide whether to continue in 2015
with multilateral talks on questions relating to «lethal
autonomous weapons systems.»
That is why we are
with those who are in favor
of not only continuing, but deepening and intensifying the ongoing international debate about lethal
autonomous weapons systems.
They should also express commitment to work in coordination
with like - minded states, UN agencies, international organizations, civil society, and other stakeholders to conclude a legally binding instrument prohibiting the development, production, and use
of lethal
autonomous weapons systems by the end
of 2019.
This chapter commences
with an examination
of the emerging technology supporting these sophisticated
systems, by detailing
autonomous features that are currently being designed for
weapons and anticipating how technological advances might be incorporated into future
weapon systems.
Armed drones and other
autonomous weapons systems with decreasing levels
of human control are currently in use and development by high - tech militaries including the US, China, Israel, South Korea, Russia, and the UK.
Current technological capabilities and foreseeable developments raise serious doubts about the ability to use
autonomous weapon systems in compliance
with international humanitarian law in all but the narrowest
of scenarios and the simplest
of environments.
A second aim
of the chapter is to describe the relevant law
of armed conflict principles applicable to new
weapon systems,
with a particular focus on the unique legal challenges posed by
autonomous weapons.
While developing new
weapon systems, both LAWS as well as
weapon systems with more advanced
autonomous functions in general, states should remain within the boundaries
of international law.
The ICRC welcomed the increased attention paid to
autonomous weapons systems with recent discussions
of the technological capabilities, military intent, and legal and ethical issues they raise.
Several
autonomous weapons systems with various degrees
of human control are currently in use by high - tech militaries including the US, China, Israel, South Korea, Russia, and the UK.
Wagner analyzes independently operating
weapon systems and the challenges that
autonomous weapon systems pose
with respect to compliance
with the law
of armed conflict.
The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Professor Christof Heyns, is due to present his latest report (A - HRC -26-36) to the the Human Rights Council on 12 June recommending that the body «remain seized»
with the issue
of autonomous weapons systems and «make its voice heard as the international debate unfolds.»
Although Article 36
weapons reviews should be a topic
of discussion at the international level to strengthen both policy and practice around the world, better
weapons reviews will not solve the problems associated
with autonomous weapons systems and should not distract the GGE from the core
of its work.
«Countries that agree
with the need to retain human control
of weapons systems should move swiftly to adopt national policies and laws and to negotiate a new international treaty prohibiting fully
autonomous weapons.»
The US is the only country
with a detailed written policy guiding it on fully
autonomous weapons, which it says «neither encourages nor prohibits» development
of lethal
autonomous weapons systems.
Jun. 1: Campaign representatives joined diplomats for an informal meeting to discuss ethical concerns over lethal
autonomous weapons systems convened at the UN by the Permanent Mission
of the Holy See to the UN in Geneva in conjunction
with the Caritas in Veritate Foundation.
We are also engaging
with diplomats from key countries at the Convention on Conventional
Weapons (CCW) in Geneva, where the first meeting
of the newly - created Group
of Governmental Experts on lethal
autonomous weapons systems is scheduled to take place on 21 - 25 August 2017.
The fact that CCW States Parties are dealing
with the issue
of lethal
autonomous weapons systems, as proposed by France in 2013, is a significant development
with regard to the Convention.
With respect to the scope
of what was discussed at the Chatham House, Scharre's depiction
of the conference being focused only on «anti-material»
autonomous weapons systems is confusing, as the conference addressed all types
of autonomous weapons systems, including «anti-personnel.»
In January 2017, several members
of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots attended a retreat by artificial intelligence leaders at Asilomar in Monterey, California in January 2017, which issued a set
of «principles» including a call to retain human control
of systems with artificial intelligence and affirms the urgent need to avoiding an arms race in lethal
autonomous weapons systems.
Costa Rica (18 October)-- «We must also address the ethical, legal and technical concerns that have arisen raising
with regard to the
systems of lethal
autonomous weapons, which are in our view, contrary to international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
Nov. 2 (Ottawa) More than 200 Canadians working in the field
of artificial intelligence, including AI pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, issued an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, demanding Canada to support the call to ban lethal
autonomous weapons systems and commit to working
with other states to conclude a new international agreement that achieves this objective
On 2 November 2017, more than 120 members
of the Australian AI research community wrote to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to ask Australia to endorse the call to ban lethal
autonomous weapons systems and commit to working
with other states to conclude a new international agreement that achieves this objective.
These could include, inter alia, the ability
of a fully
autonomous system to conform to existing law (including international humanitarian law, human rights law or general international law); potential problems associated
with the design
of future fully
autonomous weapons that could require disarmament action, or the ethical limits to robotic autonomy in deciding on the life or death
of a human, to quote just a few.»
The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots distributed copies
of The New York Times article to delegates attending the annual meeting
of the Convention on Conventional
Weapons (CCW) in Geneva, where 118 nations agreed by consensus on 14 November to proceed
with deliberations that began earlier this year on the matter
of «lethal
autonomous weapons systems.»
The 22 - page Where to draw the line report by Frank Slijper documents the trend towards increasing autonomy in
weapon systems by identifying
systems with the ability to select and attack targets
with automated «critical» functions, such as loitering munitions,
autonomous fighter aircraft, and automated ground
systems with varying levels
of human control.
Only two nations have stated policy on
autonomous weapons systems: a 2012 US Department
of Defense directive permits the development and use
of fully
autonomous systems that deliver only non-lethal force, while the UK Ministry
of Defence has stated that it has «no plans to replace skilled military personnel
with fully
autonomous systems.»
The technical sessions begins on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning
with a review
of the state
of play on research and development
of autonomous weapons systems as well as an exchange on the military rationale for
autonomous functions in
weapons systems.
At this week's CCW Fifth Review Conference, China for the first time said it sees a need for a new international instrument on lethal
autonomous weapons systems, as it questioned the adequacy
of existing international law to deal
with the challenges posed.
According to Gariepy, «
autonomous weapons systems are on the cusp
of development right now and have a very real potential to cause significant harm to innocent people along
with global instability.»
A «food for thought» paper disseminated by the GGE chair
with key questions for states contains several technology and legal / ethical issues that do not directly relate to the issue
of lethal
autonomous weapons systems.
In a letter to Thomas Küchenmeister
of Facing Finance, the German coordinator
of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, the foreign minister urged «respect and observance»
of international humanitarian law in the development
of autonomous weapons systems and stated that the government «is pursuing initiatives relating to this topic
with great interest and is ready to move forward.»
On Friday, 15 April, states attending the CCW meeting on lethal
autonomous weapons systems (another term for killer robots) agreed by consensus to recommend that deliberations on the topic continue
with the formation
of an open - ended Group
of Governmental Experts.
Several
autonomous weapons systems with various degrees
of human control are currently in use by high - tech militaries, including CCW states China, the US, Israel, South Korea, Russia, and the UK.
Friday morning starts
with a final panel on «crosscutting issues» that will be followed in the afternoon by adoption
of the final report containing recommendations for future work on lethal
autonomous weapons systems.
Heather M. Roff
of Arizona State University published the first publicly - available dataset tracking military autonomy, identifying 284
weapons systems with autonomous features.
Released at the opening
of a major international conference on artificial intelligence (AI) in Melbourne on August 21, the letter lists numerous concerns
with fully
autonomous weapons, also called lethal
autonomous weapons systems or killer robots.