US President Joe Biden should not heed the advice of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) to reject calls for a global ban on autonomous weapons. Instead, Biden should work on an innovative approach to prevent humanity from relinquishing its judgment to algorithms during war. The NSCAI maintains that a global treaty that prohibits the development, deployment and use of artificial intelligence (AI) enabled weapons systems is not in the interests of the United States and would harm international security. It argues that Russia and China are unlikely to follow such a treaty. A global ban, it argues, would increase pressure on law-abiding nations and would enable others to utilise AI military systems in an unsafe and unethical manner.

The world's leading artificial intelligence experts are sounding the alarm on killer robots. Tesla (TSLA) boss Elon Musk is among a group of 116 founders of robotics and artificial intelligence companies who are calling on the United Nations to ban autonomous weapons. "Lethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare. Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend," the experts warn in an open letter released Monday. "These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways," the letter says.

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk and other leading artificial intelligence experts have called on the United Nations for a global ban on the use of killer robots, which includes drones, tanks and machine guns, The Guardian reported on Sunday. "Once this Pandora's box is opened, it will be hard to close," Musk and 115 other specialists from around the globe wrote in a letter. The letter launches an International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Melbourne on Monday. The experts call autonomous weapons "morally wrong." The report said that the experts hope to add killer robots to the U.N.'s list of banned weapons that include chemical and intentionally blinding laser weapons.

Peace groups are pushing the Liberal government to play a lead role in crafting a global ban on "killer robots." Canadian government and civilian officials were at a United Nations disarmament conference in Geneva this week for the third round of talks on whether to outlaw lethal autonomous weapons systems. With the swift acceleration of artificial intelligence and automated technology, there are growing concerns around the development of so-called killer robots. Unlike drones and other technologies that are controlled remotely by humans, lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) could operate independently in military missions. Proponents say with proper safeguards it could actually save lives, but critics say they will lead to an arms race and even threaten humanity.