Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS)
48 Articles
Russian Treaty Violations: A Blast from the Past or an Omen for the Future
On July 28, the New York Times ran a story with the headline “U.S. Says Russia Tested Cruise Missile, Violating Treaty.” Surprisingly, this story about an arms control…
Autonomy, “Killer Robots,” and Human Control in the Use of Force – Part II
[Editor’s Note: This is Part II of a two-part guest post from Paul Scharre, a fellow and Project Director for the 20YY Warfare Initiative at the Center for a New American…
Autonomy, “Killer Robots,” and Human Control in the Use of Force – Part I
[Editor’s Note: This is Part I of a two-part guest post from Paul Scharre, a fellow and Project Director for the 20YY Warfare Initiative at the Center for a New American…
Autonomous Weapons Debate: Three issues for further consideration
As recently reported by Sarah Knuckey and Bonnie Docherty, the “Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) Informal Meeting of Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems” was held…
Taking on “Killer Robots”
New weapons that could revolutionize killing are on the horizon. Lethal autonomous weapons systems, also called fully autonomous weapons or “killer robots,” would go beyond…
Governments Conclude First (Ever) Debate on Autonomous Weapons: What Happened and What’s Next
This week at the United Nations in Geneva, the 117 states parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) held the first inter-governmental debate on autonomous…
Do women have anything to say about autonomous weapons? [Updated on October 25, 2016]
Update (October 25, 2016) — Mary Wareham of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots maintains a regularly updated “Binder of Women,” listing the names and bios of…
Start of first inter-governmental expert meeting on autonomous weapons
Today, the 117 states parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) held their first expert meeting on lethal autonomous weapons systems – weapons that can…
Developments on Autonomous Weapons Systems Governance
For Just Security readers following the emerging debate on the legal governance of autonomous weapons systems (AWS), this month is very eventful with two noteworthy developments…
European Parliament Passes Resolution on Drones, Targeted Killings, and Fully Autonomous Weapons
In a landslide vote (534 to 49), the European Parliament has passed a Resolution on drones, targeted killings, and fully autonomous weapons. Stay tuned for a post from one of the…
Major New Step Forward For International Debate on Autonomous Weapons Systems
Today, the 117 state parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) agreed to hold the first ever intergovernmental meeting on autonomous weapons systems. The…
Scientists from 37 Countries Call for Ban on Autonomous Lethal Targeting
Today, an organization of scientists released a call for a preemptive legal ban on autonomous weapons systems (AWS) – those that can select and engage targets without human intervention. …