Worry Over Killer Robots

 

Christof Heyns, U.N. special rapporteur on executions, says that unmanned robotic weapons systems with varying degrees of autonomy and deadliness were being tested or used by the United States, Britain and Israel without debate on moraI and legal issues.  Heyns presented a 22-page report on “lethal autonomous robotics”, due to be discussed at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on May 29. He warned that adding robots to arsenals would bring a new dimension as they would take targeting decisions themselves, which could “open an even larger Pandora’s box. He also questioned whether robots would be capable of complying with its requirements, including the need to distinguish between civilians and combatant