US rejects regulation on killer robots

At a UN meeting in Geneva, representatives of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots proposed an international ban on any weapons that could use lethal force without a human overseeing the process and making the final kill order.

US official Josh Dorosin proposed to develop “a non-binding code of conduct” instead.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots was first launched in 2013.

Since then, 31 countries have called for a ban on lethal autonomous weapons systems (or LAWS): Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Holy See, Iraq, Jordan, Mexico, Morocco, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, State of Palestine, Uganda, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.

Russia, India, Israel, the US, and the UK oppose the idea.

China has called for a ban on using killer bots, but not developing or producing them.

The issue will be further discussed next week, at a review conference on the 1981 convent…