Several large countries, including the United States and Russia, continue to block the possibility of signing an international treaty on the use of autonomous weapons.
The campaign aimed at stopping killer robots calls on countries to enter into negotiations on a new treaty requiring significant human intervention to use force. Starting in 2014, many countries began discussing the dangers of autonomous weapons in expert groups under the Conventional Arms Convention. Twenty-eight members of the Conventional Arms Convention called for a direct ban on the use of fully autonomous weapons.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Monday that several major nations including the US and Russia are continuing to block a potential international treaty on the use of autonomous weapons.
HRW and the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots have been encouraging nations to enter negotiations for a new treaty requiring meaningful human interaction to apply the use of force. Various nations have come together in Groups of Governmental Experts as part of the Convention on Conventional Weapons to discuss lethal autonomous weapons since 2014. Twenty-eight members of the Convention on Conventional Weapons have called for an explicit ban on fully autonomous weapons. This ban has also been supported by thousands of scientists including artificial intelligence specialists as well as 20 Nobel Peace Laureates and over 160 religious leaders of various faiths and denominations.
The convention has been limited to nonbinding resolutions due to the influence of major weapons consumer nations. A number of major military nations including US, UK, Australia, Israel, and Russia have all called such a ban premature, but it should be noted that these nations are heavily responsible for and investing in the development of autonomous weapon systems.