Geneva (ICRC) - Next week, in Geneva, states have the crucial responsibility to ensure that the future of warfare is not handed over to machines.
Promoters of new battlefield technologies promise more humane, less lethal and more precise weapons. Yet today’s most technologically sophisticated conflicts have not generated better outcomes for civilians – only widespread and indiscriminate devastation.
History shows that international treaties can successfully prohibit or restrict the most unacceptable weapons, from biological and chemical weapons to anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions. Autonomous weapons cannot be allowed to develop and proliferate without international rules and meaningful human control.
Future generations will judge whether leaders acted to prevent a world where machines autonomously kill humans. The risks are too great. After years of discussion, the time for action is now. States must launch negotiations on a new protocol before it is too late.
Further reading
- Autonomous weapons: What the law says
- Renewed call from UN Secretary-General and ICRC President to adopt rules on autonomous weapon systems
- A Key Opportunity to Prevent the Development of Unacceptable Autonomous Weapons: ICRC Advocacy Paper
- Frequently asked questions: Autonomous weapon systems
- Humanitarian Law and Policy blog: AI will not set its own limits in warfare. States must
- Video: Why AI shouldn't decide life or death in war: Autonomous weapons and military command responsibility
About the ICRC
Since 1863, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has worked to relieve suffering and preserve human dignity during war and armed violence. Alongside our Red Cross and Red Crescent partners, we deliver life-saving aid across front lines and strive to reconnect families and locate missing people.
Engaging with authorities and armed forces on all sides, often confidentially, we advocate for humane treatment of detainees and urge compliance with international humanitarian law to protect civilians from harm, including online.
For more information, please contact:
Press Office, ICRC Geneva, Tel.: +41 22 730 34 43, press@icrc.org
