Weapons

116 Experts From 26 Countries Ask UN to Ban Fully Autonomous Weapons Systems

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Google AI expert Mustafa Suleyman are among 116 experts from 26 countries who have signed a letter to the United Nations asking it to ban autonomous weapons worldwide, warning killer robots could usher in an unprecedented new era of deadly warfare.

The group warned the UN’s Convention on Conventional Weapons review conference that “Once developed, lethal autonomous weapons will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend,” the Guardian reported.

“These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways,” the letter continued. “... We do not have long to act. Once this Pandora’s box is opened, it will be hard to close.”