Killer Robots and Robot Killers

The Genealogy of Autonomous Weapons Systems and What that Says About Today



Note: For those of you new here, or who do not know much about me, I’ve been involved in discussions and analysis of Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS) both academically, practically and policy wise, for over a decade.   I’ve testified as an expert to the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) way in the beginning of this journey, I’ve published academically, and I’ve lent my skills and brain to more than one type of organization over the years.

With this inaugural post, I want to draw attention to a few things that have been gnawing at me with regards to the continued debate on autonomous weapons systems (AWS).  These little “niggles” to my brain have bubbled up lately, especially with the recent “Vienna Conference” on AWS hosted by the government of Austria last week.  That conference repeated much of what has gone on over the past 10 years, so I won’t spend much time on it here.  But the biggest item that I keep going over in my mind is the assertion that there is need for new legally binding “instruments” to regulate the development, deployment, and use of AWS, while simultaneously holding that any new law would not prohibit existing and already deployed weapons systems.   

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