Heather Roff is a fellow at the University of Cambridge. She was formerly a Future of War fellow with New America in Washington D.C. Roff is scheduled to speak this week at the Conference on World Affairs at the University of Colorado Boulder. Colorado Public Radio reserves the right to use the comments we receive, in whole or in part, and to use the commenter's name and location, in any medium. By commenting below, you agree to these terms. For additional information, please consult our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use as well as our Community Standards.

The world's militaries are close enough to wielding weapons that decide on their own whether to kill -- called Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems -- that the United Nations this week gathered a select few experts, including an ASU researcher, to separate fact from fear of robot overlords. Dr. Heather Roff, research scientist with ASU's Global Security Initiative and current Oxford senior research fellow, is testifying on the unintended risks of such weapons, and where many autonomous or semi-autonomous weapons currently exist. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence and human control. Dr. Heather Roff, researcher at ASU's Global Security Initiative, testifies at a UN meeting of experts to consider lethal autonomous weapons. Dr. Roff's testimony focuses on unintentional risks of autonomous weapons systems, including artificial intelligence and human control.