Case Against the Robots With License to Kill

Battlefield drones and robots capable of choosing their targets and firing without any human oversight won't arrive for a few decades, experts say. But a new Human Rights Watch report calls for an international ban on fully autonomous "killer robots" before they ever become a part of military arsenals around the world.

The thousands of drones and robots that the U.S. military already has deployed alongside troops are all controlled remotely by human operators, who can take responsibility if the machines accidentally injure or kill civilians. Fully autonomous robots capable of choosing targets and firing weapons on their own may come online within the next 20 or 30 years, if not sooner.

"Giving machines the power to decide who lives and dies on the battlefield would take technology too far,” said Steve Goose, the Arms Division director at Human Rights Watch. “Human control of robotic warfare is essential to minimizing civilian deaths and injuries."

"Fully autonomous weapons" operating without oversight won't have the artificial intelligence, human judgment or empathy necessary to distinguish between armed soldiers and cowering civilians in murky battlefield conditions, Human Rights Watch says. Its joint report with Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic argues robots could never follow rules of international humanitarian law. [5 Reasons to Fear Robots]
The report released on Nov. 19 suggests the following to stop the "killer robots" future:

• Ban development, production and use of fully autonomous weapons through an international agreement.