Thời sự

Drones have already raised questions about 21st century warfare– but while they have no pilots, they are controlled by humans on the ground. Lethal autonomous weapons, or 'killer robots', are programmed in advance; on the battlefield it could be the robot, not the human, which decides who to kill. 

The United States, Britain and Israel are all developing lethal autonomous weapons, although all three countries say they don’t plan to take humans out of the decision-making loop. 

Supporters of the new technology say it could save lives, by reducing the number of soldiers on the battlefield, but human rights groups question the ethics of allowing machines to take decisions over life and death. 

Now the 50 countries which have ratified the convention on conventional weapons – the countries which have already approved a ban on blinding laser weapons – will consider whether to begin talks on banning killer robots.