RSS Feed
January 9th, 2022 
Awake Goy 
Above Photo: The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots is calling for a pre-emptive ban on lethal robot weapons that could attack targets without human intervention. Oli Scarff / Getty.
As Campaigners Warn Autonomous Weapons Are Becoming A Reality.
UN Experts Warned Earlier This Year Of Evidence Pointing To The First Ever Lethal Use Of A Fully Autonomous Drone. But Campaigners Warn Several Countries Including The UK Are Blocking Progress Towards A Ban On Such Weaponry.
Britain has been accused of blocking progress towards a global treaty banning so-called “killer robots” and leaving the door ajar for the development of hi-tech weaponry capable of taking lives without human control.
Campaigners have said the UK is part of a small group of “militarized states” whose stance on autonomous weapons is now at odds with much of the rest of the world after a United Nations conference in Geneva last week failed to make a breakthrough on negotiations towards a global ban on lethal “digital dehumanization” technology.
Academics and human rights campaigners are increasingly fearful that the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is moving so quickly that ‘killer robots’ – weapons capable of using lethal force without a human being behind any decision to open fire – could become a reality despite global opposition.
A UN expert panel report earlier this year found evidence that a fully autonomous Turkish-made drone may have been used in Libya.
In the UK, the Ministry of Defense has said it has “no intention” of developing fully autonomous weaponry and argues there are strong grounds for pursuing advances in AI that have the potential to improve decision making and thereby better protect civilians and military personnel.
But Stop Killer Robots, a coalition of campaign groups and academics advocating a global ban on fully autonomous weapons, said Britain was one of several countries wrongly insisting that existing laws are sufficient to deal with the threat.
The group said the Government had failed to give an undertaking to never use Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAWs) and was at the same time investing heavily in military AI without a promised ethical framework to guide such research. The MoD said such a framework is due to be delivered shortly.
Verity Coyle, senior adviser on military, security and policing at Amnesty International, which is part of the Stop Killer. Robots coalition, told i: “The UK Government has been unable to reassure politicians of all stripes that future UK military operations will never delegate the decision to take a human life to a machine.
“This year the UK’s investments in military AI have boomed while the implementation of an ethical framework under which this research is proceeding has been delayed for unknown reasons… The imperative is not to win an arms race, but to prevent one.”
Campaigners have raised concerns that some publicly-funded research in UK universities has the potential for application in future LAWs systems.
The Geneva conference, gathered to review the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), ended this weekend without a hoped for breakthrough on talks to effectively ban autonomous weapons. Some 40 countries which are signatories to the CCW have already signed up in principle to such a treaty, with dozens more signaling their support.
Campaigners said any progress towards a ban had been blocked in particular by America, Russia, India and Israel – all countries investing heavily in AI and other technologies with potential military applications. Washington’s proposal for a non-binding “code of conduct” on developing autonomous weaponry was dismissed as a means of accelerating that research.
The Geneva meeting ended with an undertaking to “consider proposals and elaborate… possible measures” on LAWs at a follow-up meeting next year.
Protesters now want to secure a ban outside the remit of the CCW by following a path similar to the one that resulted in global bans on landmines and cluster munitions.
Steve Goose, arms director at Humans Rights Watch, said: “No one wants to live in a world where machines are used to target human beings on the basis of sensors and software. Public revulsion over digital dehumanization and the proliferation of autonomous weapons systems will ultimately drive forward an international treaty.”
A MoD spokesperson said: “The UK is developing a framework for the safe and responsible development and use of AI, including in weapons systems. We do not possess fully autonomous weapon systems and have no intention of developing them.
“We strongly support the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons as the right forum for discussions about the development and use of AI and autonomy in accordance with International Humanitarian Law. The UK does not support a pre-emptive ban.”
Posted in 
Tags: 
