In Geneva on Monday, August 27, talks by a group of government experts from 70 countries under the auspices of the United Nations will kick off on lethal autonomous weapons systems. It depends on consultations whether the emergence of fully self-controlled robotic killers will become a reality in the coming years, which, without human control, will select a target and decide on its destruction.
A small step to autonomous weapons
International diplomats, disarmament experts and civil society representatives began discussing autonomous weapons as early as 2014. These informal consultations developed into formal negotiations last year. Fully self-guided weapons have yet to be created, but many states are investing heavily in adapting artificial intelligence technology for military needs. A number of countries are already armed with systems with elements of artificial intelligence - from drones and sentry robots to devices for defusing explosive devices. At the same time, the development of artificial neural networks continues, allowing artificial intelligence to self-learn.
Thomas Kuchenmeister.
"There is only a small step left to create fully autonomous weapons systems," said Thomas Küchenmeister, head of the German organization Facing Finance, which participates in the international Stop Killer Robots campaign. What is wrong with the use of automatic systems in the army, which are more accurate and capable of analyzing large amounts of data?
Kuchenmeister points out in an interview with DW that self-driving systems are unable to distinguish between, for example, a military and a civilian truck. And this is already contrary to international humanitarian law, which operates in armed conflicts and is designed, as far as possible, to protect the civilian population. “But we cannot implant a chip of international law in these weapons,” laments a campaigner against killer robots.
Promotional video:
China is in favor of the moratorium, the United States and Russia are against
26 states, including Australia, Brazil and China, are in favor of a preventive moratorium on autonomous weapons systems. An open letter supporting their position has been signed by more than 230 organizations around the world and about 3,000 entrepreneurs and scientists working in the field of artificial intelligence. Among them, for example, the founder of Tesla and Space X, Elon Musk, and Deep Mind (owned by Google). "The decision to take a person's life should never be delegated to a robot," the letter says.
Combat robot at an exhibition in Kiev, 2016.
The ban is opposed by states that are actively investing in the use of artificial intelligence for military purposes, for example, the United States, Israel, Russia and the United Kingdom. As Russian President Vladimir Putin once said, the leader in creating artificial intelligence "will be the master of the world."
The US is even trying to portray autonomous weapons in a positive light, claiming that they will help avoid "collateral destruction." After all, a computer, unlike a soldier, can analyze the entire situation on the battlefield faster and make fewer mistakes, they are convinced in Washington. During the last round of consultations in Geneva, the American delegation urged not to stigmatize such weapons.
Berlin's position: from declaration to gradual ban
The German government is in favor of an "international ban" of autonomous weapons - this is enshrined in the coalition agreement of the German Cabinet. At the same time, Berlin considers it tactically wrong to insist on a moratorium on the current negotiations in Geneva, since the positions of the countries are too different. Together with France, Germany is proposing an interim solution: the first step could be the adoption of a political declaration at the UN, which would speak of the importance of maintaining human control over autonomous weapons systems. Then Berlin and Paris propose to adopt a military code of conduct, and only then - a direct treaty banning such weapons.
According to German diplomats, such a multi-stage approach will give a chance to overcome the existing contradictions - after all, opponents of the moratorium could join the political declaration without any obligations. At the same time, this document would create certain general standards that pave the way for the consolidation of the ban on self-governing weapons in international law.
An agreement outside the UN?
However, the activists of the movement "Stop the killer robots" Germany's position does not seem tough enough. They believe that the FRG should be at the forefront of the struggle for an immediate moratorium. Other countries would have followed it, Thomas Kuchenmeister believes. "If the German government wants to achieve a ban on such weapons, then it must demonstrate this, that is, take responsibility," he emphasizes.
One way or another, countries have less and less time to agree on positions, because technologies are improving every day. If no progress is made in the Geneva talks, pressure from civil society will build up, predicts Kuchenmeister.
In his opinion, in this case, an agreement on a moratorium on autonomous weapons can be reached outside the framework of the UN, as it happened with the ban of anti-personnel mines. In 1996-1997, the Canadian government and representatives of dozens of other countries independently held a number of conferences that ended with the Ottawa Treaty. To date, 164 countries have already joined the agreement. This process was launched in large part due to an active civil campaign to ban anti-personnel mines. This movement received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997.