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Lethal Autonomous weapon systems are robots with lethal weapons that can operate independently, selecting and attacking targets without a human weighing in on those decisions. Countries around the world are investing heavily in autonomous weapons research and development.
According to a recent United Nations Security Council report on the Libyan civil war, LAWs may have killed humans for the first time.
United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons considered a ban on Lethal Autonomous Weapons at its 2021 review meeting.
Threats associated with Lethal Autonomous weapon systems or LAWs
Problem of misidentification: Identification of targets will be an issue. For example, how would it differentiate between civilians fleeing a conflict site and insurgents making a tactical retreat?
Algorithmic errors: These weapons are operated based on algorithms. However, even the best algorithms are prone to error. In case of errors, these weapons can produce the runaway gun effect, where due to error, a gun continues to fire until ammunition is depleted.
Low end Proliferation: Containing and controlling the spread of these weapons from the hands of extremists and terrorists won’t be possible. For example, “Kalashnikov” autonomous weapons, the most advanced weapons at a time, could get into the hands of people outside of government control, including international and domestic terrorists.
Danger of frequent wars: Use of LAWs will eliminate 2 primary concerns of not starting a war; 1) concern for civilians abroad and 2) concern for one’s own soldiers.
Asymmetric wars: Wars waged on the soil of nations that lack competing technology – are likely to become more common.
Undermining the laws of war: International laws and treaties like 1864 Geneva Convention, are thin blue line separating war with honor from massacre. They ensure accountability of people for their actions even during wartime. But it will be almost impossible to ensure accountability of autonomous weapons.
Steps being taken to reduce the threat
United Nations’ Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, Sixth Review Conference, discussed a ban on LAWs. The US, UK, Russia and China all argued that it was “too early”. Convention on Certain Conventional Weapon. The convention as of now does not include killer robots. It should be done at the earliest.
Furthermore, the regulations with the following ingredients at an early stage will be more effective, compared to a later stage as was the case with nuclear weapons;
- Regulations should ensure accountability of the manufacturing nation.
- The regulations should be on the same line, as with nuclear weapons, their transfer and movement must be monitored by an international body.
- Conditions of usage of LAWs must be specified.
Many threats are associated with the usage of LAWs, however, they can also be useful in certain situations like bomb disposal etc., thus a balanced mechanism is required to control their usage against humanity.
