Unleashing Killer Robots Could Protect Human Rights: New at Reason

Who is responsible when lethal autonomous weapons attack?

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Human rights activists want to ban lethal autonomous weapon systems because they believe the requirement to maintain human control over the use of weapons can never be met. Such control needed, they argue, to "protect the dignity of human life, facilitate compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law, and promote accountability for unlawful acts." However, such killer robots could actually well be better able to observe international human rights laws and protect civilians than conventional soldiers. In any case, states and commanders who choose to develop and deploy such weapons would be responsible to any violations of the laws of war that they might perpetrate.