Over 100 experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, including the billionaire Elon Musk, have called on the United Nations (UN) to ban the development of "killer robots" before the technology is used in warfare, reports the BBC.
In an open letter to the UN, the experts say the rise in companies developing AI systems that may be "repurposed to develop autonomous weapons" could lead to "the third revolution in warfare."
The 116 experts who signed the paper say these weapons "permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever", adding that the UN does not have long to act before the technology falls into the wrong hands.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It says that AI systems can be used as "weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways."
The letter calls on the UN to add these autonomous systems to the "list of weapons banned under the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW)", says the BBC.
The Guardian reports that "experts have previously warned that AI technology has reached a point where the deployment of autonomous weapons is feasible within years".
Despite arguments that "AI can be used to make the battlefield a safer place for military personnel", the newspaper says "experts fear that offensive weapons that operate on their own would lower the threshold of going to battle and result in greater loss of human life."
In 2015, a similar letter was signed by "thousands of researchers" warning the UN of the "dangers of autonomous weapons", says Business Insider.
The two letters have led to a meeting with the UN and 123 member nations over the technologies, says The Verge, although "discussions have been delayed due to unpaid fees from member states."
Talks are now expected to commence later this year.
-
Climate change has reduced US salariesUnder the radar Elevated temperatures are capable of affecting the entire economy
-
6 gorgeous homes in warm climesFeature Featuring a Spanish Revival in Tucson and Richard Neutra-designed modernist home in Los Angeles
-
Russia’s ‘cyborg’ spy pigeonsUnder the Radar Moscow neurotech company with Kremlin-linked funding claims to implant neural chips in birds’ brains to control their flight, and create ‘bio-drones’
-
Moltbook: the AI social media platform with no humans allowedThe Explainer From ‘gripes’ about human programmers to creating new religions, the new AI-only network could bring us closer to the point of ‘singularity’
-
Claude Code: Anthropic’s wildly popular AI coding appThe Explainer Engineers and noncoders alike are helping the app go viral
-
Will regulators put a stop to Grok’s deepfake porn images of real people?Today’s Big Question Users command AI chatbot to undress pictures of women and children
-
Most data centers are being built in the wrong climateThe explainer Data centers require substantial water and energy. But certain locations are more strained than others, mainly due to rising temperatures.
-
The dark side of how kids are using AIUnder the Radar Chatbots have become places where children ‘talk about violence, explore romantic or sexual roleplay, and seek advice when no adult is watching’
-
Why 2025 was a pivotal year for AITalking Point The ‘hype’ and ‘hopes’ around artificial intelligence are ‘like nothing the world has seen before’
-
AI griefbots create a computerized afterlifeUnder the Radar Some say the machines help people mourn; others are skeptical
-
The robot revolutionFeature Advances in tech and AI are producing android machine workers. What will that mean for humans?
