Officials urge ban on ‘killer robots’ before it’s too late

Armies of Terminator-like warriors fan out across the battlefield, destroying everything in their path, as swarms of fellow robots rain fire from the skies.

That dark vision could all too easily shift from science fiction to fact, with disastrous consequences for the human race, unless such weapons are banned before they leap from the drawing board to the arsenal, campaigners warn.

Yesterday, governments began the first-ever talks on so-called lethal autonomous weapons systems — though opponents prefer the label “killer robots”.

“I urge delegates to take bold action,” said Michael Moeller, head of the UN’s Conference on Disarmament.

“All too often, international law only responds to atrocities and suffering once it has happened. You have the opportunity to take pre-emptive action and ensure that the ultimate decision to end life remains firmly under human control,” he said.

That was echoed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, guardian of the Geneva Conventions on warfare.

“The central issue is the potential absence of human control over the critical functions of identifying and attacking targets, including human targets,” said Kathleen Lawand, head of the committee’s arms unit.

“There is a sense of deep discomfort with the idea of allowing machines to make life-and-death decisions on the battlefield with little or no human involvement.”

The four-day meeting in Geneva aims to chart the path towards more in-depth talks in November.

“Killer robots would threaten the most fundamental of rights and principles in international law,” said Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch. “The only answer is a pre-emptive ban.”

Perhaps closest to the Terminator-type killing machine portrayed in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action films is a Samsung sentry robot used in South Korea, with the ability to spot unusual activity, talk to intruders, and, when authorised by a human controller, shoot them.

But it’s the next step, the power to kill without a human handler, that rattles opponents the most.

Experts predict that military research could produce such killers within 20 years.

The goal, diplomats said, is not to ban the technology outright. “We need to keep in mind that these are dual technologies and could have numerous civilian, peaceful, and legitimate uses. This must not be about restricting research in this field,” said Jean-Hugues Simon-Michel, chairman of the talks.