TY - GEN
T1 - Autonomous killer robots are probably good news
AU - Müller, Vincent C.
AU - Simpson, Thomas W.
PY - 2014/1/1
Y1 - 2014/1/1
N2 - Will future lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) or 'killer robots', be a threat to humanity? In this policy paper, we argue that they do not take responsibility away from humans; in fact they increase the ability to hold humans accountable for war crimes. Also, using LAWS in war, as compared to a war without them, would probably make wars a bit less bad through an overall reduction of human suffering, especially in civilians. Finally, the availability of LAWS would probably not increase the probability of war or other lethal conflict-especially as compared to extant remote-controlled weapons. The European Parliament and a UN special rapporteur have called for a moratorium or ban of LAWS, supported by the vast majority of writers and campaigners on the issue. The 'Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention at the United Nations' are presently discussing such a ban. However, the main arguments in favour of a ban are unsound. We are afraid of killer robots, but we should not be: They are probably good news.
AB - Will future lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) or 'killer robots', be a threat to humanity? In this policy paper, we argue that they do not take responsibility away from humans; in fact they increase the ability to hold humans accountable for war crimes. Also, using LAWS in war, as compared to a war without them, would probably make wars a bit less bad through an overall reduction of human suffering, especially in civilians. Finally, the availability of LAWS would probably not increase the probability of war or other lethal conflict-especially as compared to extant remote-controlled weapons. The European Parliament and a UN special rapporteur have called for a moratorium or ban of LAWS, supported by the vast majority of writers and campaigners on the issue. The 'Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention at the United Nations' are presently discussing such a ban. However, the main arguments in favour of a ban are unsound. We are afraid of killer robots, but we should not be: They are probably good news.
KW - just war requirements
KW - killer robots
KW - LAWS
KW - policy recommendations on autonomous wapons
KW - responsibility
KW - utility considerations
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84922550551&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3233/978-1-61499-480-0-297
DO - 10.3233/978-1-61499-480-0-297
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84922550551
T3 - Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications
SP - 297
EP - 305
BT - Sociable Robots and the Future of Social Relations - Proceedings of Robo-Philosophy 2014
A2 - Seibt, Johanna
A2 - Norskov, Marco
A2 - Hakli, Raul
PB - IOS Press
T2 - Robo-Philosophy 2014: Sociable Robots and the Future of Social Relations
Y2 - 20 August 2014 through 23 August 2014
ER -