‘Moral red line’: UN, Red Cross demand urgent rules on autonomous weapons

The United Nations and Red Cross on Tuesday issued a warning regarding the use of lethal autonomous weapons, urging for urgent negotiations to restrict their use.

As the world is grappling with conflicts, the use of autonomous weapons could proliferate that can kill people without human intervention.

"We are now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: the autonomous targeting of humans ​by machines," said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and ​President of the International Committee of the Red Cross ⁠Mirjana Spoljaric in a joint statement.

"Negotiations must begin now to urgently ​adopt a legally binding instrument to regulate autonomous weapon systems with ​clear prohibitions and restrictions," they said.

The stark warning comes after the states are set to meet in Geneva aimed at developing the new rules next week amid growing concerns over the use of AI-assisted semi-autonomous weapons used in carrying out attacks in Iran, Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.

The discussions over the rules have been ongoing since 2014. Given the pace at which technology has been evolving, the progress made during the discussion does not seem enough.

Critics and human rights organizations express apprehension regarding the autonomous nature of military AI. They warn that such systems escalate the probability of lethal errors, including the misidentification of wounded or surrendering combatants.

Additionally, the deployment of these technologies obscures lines of responsibility, making future prosecution of war crimes exceedingly difficult.

"States must show political courage and move ⁠beyond ​incremental discussions towards decisive action", the joint ​statement said, calling for those talks to begin in November when a major conference ​is planned in Geneva.