A new book by Conflict Analytics project member Jacob Turner is delving into some of the key issues surrounding AI. Published by Palgrave, Robot Rules argues that AI's ability to make independent decisions makes it unique – and unpredictable. "In Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence, I explore what makes AI unique, what legal and ethical problems this will cause, and how we can solve them," Turner says. Turner lays out three issues: the responsibility for harm caused by AI, the rights surrounding'legal personality' for AI, and the ethics behind an AI decision-making process. Robot Rules suggests that in order to address these questions we need to develop new institutions and regulations on a cross-industry and international level.

Campaigners are renewing calls for a pre-emptive ban on so-called "killer robots" as representatives of more than 80 countries meet to discuss the autonomous weapons systems. The use of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) is "a step too far", said Mary Wareham, the global coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. "They cross a moral line, because we would see machines taking human lives on the battlefield or in law enforcement. "We want weapon systems and the use of force to remain under human control," Wareham said. Wareham spoke to Al Jazeera before Monday's meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on a possible ban on LAWS. This is the fifth international meeting to discuss so-called "killer robots" since 2014, but no formal decisions will be taken yet as countries are still working towards a common definition of LAWS, and have yet to agree on whether they should be outlawed in international law. This is going to be a crucial year. If we do not move swiftly, we could end up in a situation where it's too late and where fully autonomous weapons proliferate to the extent that every country has them," Wareham told Al Jazeera.