Experts Warn Window for International Regulation on Killer Robots Is 'Rapidly Shrinking'

Countries met at the United Nations on Monday as part of an effort toward establishing global rules around the use of so-called "killer robots"—autonomous weapons systems that select targets based on inputs from sensors rather than from humans. Arms control and humanitarian officials who spoke at the meeting and to press expressed that time is running out to prohibit and regulate these weapons.

Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said at the U.N. informal consultations on autonomous weapons that the "technology is moving at lightning speed, and the implications grow more worrying. The window to apply effective international regulations and controls on autonomous weapon systems before they are in widespread use is rapidly shrinking."

"The reality of autonomous weapons systems on the battlefield is increasing. Crucially, the need for robust international law is becoming all the more pressing and more consequential," said Verity Cole, a senior adviser and campaigner for the human rights group Amnesty International, at the U.N. meeting on Monday.

"We need a legally binding instrument... the time has come to negotiate and adopt a treaty that prohibits and regulates autonomous weapons systems," said Nicole van Rooijen, executive director of the Stop Killer Robots coalition, on Monday.

Autonomous weapons are already in use, such as in the conflict in Ukraine. Last month, the group Human Rights Watch released a report warning about the possible human rights implications of the potential unchecked proliferation of autonomous weapons.

Since 2014, countries that are party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) "have been meeting in Geneva to discuss a potential ban fully autonomous systems that operate without meaningful human control and regulate others," according to Reuters.

In 2023, with the support of 164 states, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the first ever resolution on autonomous weapons, calling on the international community to address the risks posed by these weapons.

The Monday gathering of the U.N. General Assembly was the first time the body has met for a discussion dedicated to autonomous weapons, Reuters reported.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has called for states to come up with a "legally binding instrument" to bar certain lethal autonomous weapons and regulate all other types of autonomous weapons by 2026. He reiterated this call on Monday.

According to Reuters, human rights groups are concerned there's a lack of consensus among countries for this sort of instrument.

Alexander Kmentt, director of disarmament and arms control at the Austrian Foreign Ministry, told Reuters that that needs to change.

"Time is really running out to put in some guardrails so that the nightmare scenarios that some of the most noted experts are warning of don't come to pass," he said.