The development of autonomous military systems – dubbed “killer robots” by campaigners opposed to them – is deeply contentious. The government insists it “does not possess fully autonomous weapons and has no intention of developing them”. The government appears to concede that the development of autonomous weapons systems is inevitable. Researchers at Arizona State University have catalogued 273 weapon systems around the world which already have some autonomous functions. A spokesman for the MoD said: “There is no intent within the MOD to develop weapon systems that operate entirely without human input.

Source: The Guardian November 10, 2018 13:59 UTC