Fully-automated combat drones already in the battlefield, and could be the future | ABC NEWS

Calls for Restrictions on Autonomous Weapons

The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross have called on countries to adopt bans and restrictions on autonomous weapons, warning that the risks have intensified. Their latest assessment stops short of demanding a blanket ban, but UN official Alessandra Vellucci said the world is nearing a moral red line: machines autonomously targeting people.

Risks and Accountability

AI expert Professor Toby Walsh said the technology could change the legal and moral character of warfare and make it more deadly. He cited a New York Times report that a fully autonomous drone had killed three Ukrainian civilians, suggesting that the boundary between human-directed and autonomous attacks may already have been crossed.

Walsh said current systems often use AI to track a target selected by a person. Removing humans from the process, however, offers militaries advantages, including less reliance on communications and drone pilots.

He warned that autonomous systems can make mistakes, raising difficult questions about civilian deaths and accountability. Governments have an opportunity to negotiate binding rules at a UN conference in Geneva in November, drawing on precedents for restrictions on other weapons.

The Role of Technology Companies

Walsh noted that commercially available computer chips can be repurposed for weapons. Restricting their supply would be difficult because they have legitimate uses as well as potential for misuse.

If governments fail to establish safeguards, he warned, autonomous “killer robots” could become a dystopian reality.

Presenters and Contributors

• ABC News presenter/interviewer — not identified in the subtitles
• Professor Toby Walsh, University of New South Wales AI Institute
• Alessandra Vellucci, UN Director of Information Services (quoted)