International Discussions Concerning Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems

Abstract

As technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), advances, lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) - weapons designed to make decisions about using lethal force without manual human control - may soon make their appearance, raising a number of potential ethical, diplomatic, legal, and strategic concerns for Congress. By providing a brief overview of ongoing international discussions concerning LAWS, this In Focus seeks to assist Congress as it conducts oversight hearings on AI within the military (as the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services have done in recent years), guides U.S. foreign policy, and makes funding and authorization decisions related to LAWS.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 16, 2019
Accession Number
AD1146640

Entities

People

  • Michael Moodie
  • Zelin Liu

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Arms Control
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Autonomous Weapons
  • Autonomy
  • California
  • Computer Science
  • Congress
  • Governments
  • Law
  • National Security
  • Regulations
  • Security
  • United States
  • Weapon Systems
  • Weapons

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Agent-Based Social Robotics and Mobile-Assisted Learning in Virtual Environments.
  • Criminal Law
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy
  • Autonomy