The UK government is among a group of countries that are attempting to thwart plans to formulate and impose a pre-emptive ban on killer robots. Delegates have been meeting at the UN in Geneva all week to discuss potential restrictions under international law to so-called lethal autonomous weapons systems, which use artificial intelligence to help decide when and who to kill. Most states taking part – and particularly those from the global south – support either a total ban or strict legal regulation governing their development and deployment, a position backed by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, who has described machines empowered to kill as "morally repugnant". But the UK is among a group of states – including Australia, Israel, Russia and the US – speaking forcefully against legal regulation. As discussions operate on a consensus basis, their objections are preventing any progress on regulation.

There is a "real danger to humanity" if there is no ban on so-called killer robots, says professor of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics Noel Sharkey. The long-time campaigner against killer robots told Verdict in an exclusive video interview about the dangers of lethal autonomous weapons (LAWS), which are being developed by militaries to kill without human oversight. He made the warning ahead of the UN's 6th meeting on LAWS, taking place in Geneva today and lasting throughout the week. The most recent meeting was in April and saw Austria and China join the list of countries calling for a prohibition on LAWS. This meeting will see more than 70 governments from around the world meet under the auspices of the Convention of Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

This is a guest post. The views expressed here are solely those of the authors and do not represent positions of IEEE Spectrum or the IEEE. Killer robots are on the agenda of a major United Nations meeting in Geneva this week. As part of a U.N. disarmament conference, participating countries are deciding on Friday whether or not to start formal discussions on a ban of lethal autonomous weapons following on from three years of informal discussions. Last July, thousands of researchers working in AI and robotics came together and issued an open letter calling for a pre-emptive ban on such weapons.