Serious message: The campaign wants a pre-emptive ban (Picture: Flickr/Campaign to Stop Killer Robots)

Automatons selecting and attacking targets without human intervention may sound like something from the Terminator film series, but a new campaign is calling for a pre-emptive global ban on so-called killer robots.

An alliance of human rights groups, initially coordinated by New York-based Human Rights watch, says it is ‘serious’ about campaigning for an international treaty and national laws banning fully autonomous weapons.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, which held its maiden press conference in central London today, said the expanded use of unmanned armed vehicles or drones had ‘dramatically changed warfare’.

The Pentagon has previously said humans must always be ‘in the loop’ when it comes to military decision-making (Picture: Flickr/Campaign to Stop Killer Robots)

Examples of automated weapons include Israel’s Iron Dome defence system, which intercepted rockets fired from Gaza during last year’s armed conflict.




Amid rapid advances in military technology involving unmanned drones, particularly by the US, China, Israel, Russia and the UK, last year the US department of defence issued a new directive reasserting that a human needs to be ‘in the loop’ when decisions are taken, while the Ministry of Defence said it had ‘no intention’ of developing weapons systems that are deployed without human involvement.

Stop Killers Robots wants a treaty in place to ensure those commitments are maintained.

The MoD said it had no plans to introduce fully autonomous weapons systems (Picture: Flickr/Campaign to Stop Killer Robots)

‘Lethal armed robots that could target and kill without any human intervention should never be built,’ said Steve Goose, arms division director at Human Rights Watch, said.

‘A human should always be “in-the-loop” when decisions are made on the battlefield. Killer robots would cross moral and legal boundaries, and should be rejected as repugnant to the public conscience.’

Mr Goose added: ‘Many militaries are pursuing ever-greater autonomy for weaponry, but the line needs to be drawn now on fully autonomous weapons. These weapons would take technology a step too far, and a ban is needed urgently before investments, technological momentum, and new military doctrine make it impossible to stop.’