The head of the United Nations and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross issued a joint statement on Tuesday demanding immediate international action to rein in the development and use of autonomous weapons amid an intensifying global arms race.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric said their new statement comes with "even greater urgency" than a call they issued three years ago, urging countries to agree on binding restrictions on autonomous weapons systems. The pair noted Tuesday that "the development of weapon technology has advanced at record speed, placing increasing strain on legal frameworks" and widening the "gap between technological capability and regulatory constraint."
"The fundamental concerns remain unchanged, but the risks have intensified. We are now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: the autonomous targeting of humans by machines," said Guterres and Spoljaric. The United States and Israel are among the countries using artificial intelligence extensively in military operations, including to make targeting decisions.
"States have a responsibility to those already suffering the consequences of today’s conflicts, and to those who will inherit the world that is now being shaped," Guterres and Spoljaric added. "We urge states to seize this moment. Continuing to design weapon systems that make it easier to wage war will only undermine our collective efforts towards a more peaceful world. The path is clear. The need is urgent. Innovation must serve humanity—not endanger it."
The international leaders' statement came months before the Seventh Review Conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in November, a gathering that Guterres and Spoljaric said provides "the clearest path available for states to decide to move to negotiate a legally binding instrument."
In recent years, experts have grown increasingly alarmed by the escalating arms race in autonomous weaponry. The New York Times reported earlier this year that Pentagon officials "concluded that America’s program for unmanned combat drones was lagging China’s" and that Russia was "ahead in building facilities that could produce advanced drones."
"US officials pushed domestic defense companies to step up," the Times noted. "Last month, Anduril, a defense technology start-up in California, began manufacturing AI-backed, self-flying drones that appeared similar to the ones shown in China. Production at a factory outside Columbus, Ohio, started three months ahead of schedule, part of an effort to close the gap with China."
US President Donald Trump's Pentagon has requested nearly $55 billion in autonomous weapons funding for fiscal year 2027, a staggering 24,000% increase compared to the previous year's budget.
"If Trump and his Pentagon get their way, robotic warfare will be the new normal," Anavi Khanna wrote for the National Priorities Project earlier this month. "And at a time when Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities, a federal budget that truly reflects the needs of its people should not allocate disproportionate funding for an autonomous weapons program that is facilitating war."
