The Killer Algorithms Nobody's Talking About

This past fall, diplomats from around the globe gathered in Geneva to do something about killer robots. In a result that surprised nobody, they failed. The formal debate over lethal autonomous weapons systems--machines that can select and fire at targets on their own--began in earnest about half a decade ago under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, the international community's principal mechanism for banning systems and devices deemed too hellish for use in war. But despite yearly meetings, the CCW has yet to agree what "lethal autonomous weapons" even are, let alone set a blueprint for how to rein them in. Meanwhile, the technology is advancing ferociously; militaries aren't going to wait for delegates to pin down the exact meaning of slippery terms such as "meaningful human control" before sending advanced warbots to battle.