Lethal Battlefield Robots: Sci-Fi or the Future of War?

The real-life equivalent of Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics (which posits that robots may not harm humans, even if they are instructed to do so) is, like killer-robot technology itself, a ways off. In April, the United Nations released a report (PDF) that recommended suspending the development of autonomous weapons until their function and application is discussed more thoroughly. Last December, the Department of Defense issued a directive on weapon systems autonomy, calling for the establishment of "guidelines designed to minimize the probability and consequences of failures in autonomous and semi-autonomous weapon systems that could lead to unintended engagements." Though the Pentagon document stresses the need for human supervision of military robots, critics claim it leaves the door open for the development of autonomous lethal robots that aren't accountable to meaningful human oversight. "We already don't understand Microsoft Windows; we're certainly not going to understand something as complex as a humanlike intelligence," says Mark Gubrud, a research associate working on robotic and space weapons arms control at Princeton.