Autonomous and artificial intelligence-assisted weapons systems are already playing a greater role in conflicts from Ukraine to Gaza. And rising defence spending worldwide promises to provide a further boost for burgeoning AI-assisted military technology.
Since 2014, countries that are part of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) have been meeting in Geneva to discuss a potential ban fully autonomous systems that operate without meaningful human control and regulate others.
Alexander Kmentt, head of arms control at Austria's foreign ministry, said that must quickly change.
Monday's gathering of the U.N. General Assembly in New York will be the body's first meeting dedicated to autonomous weapons.
Campaign groups hope the meeting, which will also address critical issues not covered by the CCW, including ethical and human rights concerns and the use of autonomous weapons by non-state actors, will push states to agree on a legal instrument.
“This issue needs clarification through a legally binding treaty. The technology is moving so fast,“ said Patrick Wilcken, Amnesty International’s Researcher on Military, Security and Policing.
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While many countries back a binding global framework, the United States, Russia, China and India prefer national guidelines or existing international laws, according to Amnesty.
The governments of India, Russia, and China did not respond to requests for comment.
Weapons experts at the Future of Life Institute think tank have tracked the deployment of roughly 200 autonomous weapon systems across Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa.
Ukraine has, meanwhile, used semi-autonomous drones in the conflict. The Ukrainian government declined to comment.
Human Rights Watch, however, said crucial questions of accountability under international law remain unresolved and warned in a report last month that unregulated autonomous weapons present a range of threats to human rights and could provoke an arms race if unchecked.
“We do not generally trust industries to self-regulate ... There is no reason why defence or technology companies should be more worthy of trust,“ she said.
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