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UN Debates Rules Surrounding Killer Robots

Posted by timothy on from the nothing-c-c-c-can-go-wrong-n-n-nothing-can-go dept.

First time accepted submitter khb writes "It seems that the UN has started a debate on whether to place limits or bans on robots that can kill without manual supervision. It seems that bombs are viewed as 'kinder' than robots which might be programmed to achieve specific ends (e.g. destroy that bridge, kill anyone carrying a gun, etc.)."

1 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. OK, but how is this new?: by Hartree · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So, tell me how a cruise missile that's autonomously guiding itself via GPS or TERCOM toward a target after being launched isn't already a "killer robot"?

    It was commanded to launch, yes, but isn't a robot that's being commanded to head out on a mission where it could kill just being given a longer lifetime to act?

    You can bring up the choices robots have to attack or not based on what target it sees, but how is this different from existing CAPTOR mines that can ignore one type of ship and go after another?

    I think this Pandora's box has already been open for a long time.