Autonomous weapons rules needed, UN and Red Cross warn

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric urged governments on August 25 to set international rules for autonomous weapons, warning that machines could soon be used to target humans without human intervention.

In a joint statement, they renewed a 2023 call for countries to agree specific bans and restrictions by this year. They said the risks around autonomous weapon systems had intensified and that the world was "dangerously close" to "the autonomous targeting of humans by machines."

Lethal autonomous weapon systems are generally understood as systems that select targets and apply force without human intervention. There is currently no specific treaty on autonomous and artificial intelligence-enabled weapons, and there has been no confirmed use of fully autonomous weapons.

Countries have discussed a possible treaty for a decade. After three years of talks, they are due in November to decide whether to open full treaty negotiations. Guterres and Spoljaric called for "political courage" and warned that failure to act quickly would cost lives.