The first meeting of the UN-backed group of experts, intended to start work on getting a ban on lethal autonomous weapons, was supposed to wrap up at the end of last week. Some semi-autonomous weaponry is already available, like the border guarding system on the ceasefire line between North and South Korea. In the early years of debate on the development of autonomous weapons, the Pentagon argued that technology must be servant not master of the soldier. Yet the weight of public opinion – even when it is not a majority view – can stiffen governments against the demands of military expediency and strategic choice. Campaigners believe that through the UN they can build a coalition, a platform for a sustained campaign to control autonomous weapons.

Source: The Guardian August 29, 2017 18:33 UTC