Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Slaughterbots
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Policy advocacy
The push to prohibit Slaughterbots
Slaughterbots, also called ‘lethal autonomous weapons systems’ or ‘killer robots’, are weapons that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify, select, and kill human targets without human intervention. Though these weapons sound futuristic, reports of their use are starting to mount up. The Future of Life Institute considers slaughterbots to be both immoral and a major threat to global security.
Mobilising countries behind a new treaty
The FLI policy team encourages the formation of a new treaty on autonomous weapons. Alongside a majority of the world’s states, FLI argues that some autonomous weapons must be banned – specifically, those which target humans, which are highly unpredictable, or which function beyond meaningful human control. FLI, alongside the Red Cross, calls for other autonomous weapons – those that can be meaningfully controlled by humans – to be regulated.
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Raising the alarm on autonomous weapons
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Discover how autonomous weapons are shaping our world.
Autonomous Weapons Watch
Check out our new autonomous weapons database to discover the most concerning autonomous weapons being developed and sold today. With weapons covering land, air, and sea, our database reveals the scale of this technology today.
We will soon be providing quarterly trend reports on the AI weapons deing developed and used on the battlefield.