UN and Red Cross warn world is nearing era of 'killer robots'
The UN and Red Cross are urgently calling for international regulation of autonomous weapons, warning that the risk of machines independently targeting humans has grown sharply. Countries are due to decide in November whether to begin full treaty negotiations.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger issued a joint statement on Tuesday expressing alarm over the rapid development of autonomous weapon systems. They said the world is now "dangerously close" to crossing a moral line where machines could independently select and attack human targets without human involvement.
The warning follows a 2023 appeal in which both leaders urged countries to establish specific bans and restrictions on the technology by this year. They have now renewed that call with greater urgency, saying their fundamental concerns remain unchanged but the risks have intensified.
No clear rules yet, but concerns are mounting
Lethal autonomous weapon systems are generally defined as systems that select targets and apply force without human intervention. There has been no confirmed use of fully autonomous weapons to date. However, with global tensions rising and conflicts continuing in the Middle East and Ukraine — where drone warfare has become a major feature of the battlefield — fears are growing that such use could occur soon.
There is currently no dedicated international treaty governing autonomous and artificial intelligence-enabled weapons. Guterres and Spoljaric noted that a race toward greater autonomy in weapons systems is already well under way, and that future generations will ask whether today's leaders acted while there was still time to set limits.
They also pointed out that some scientists and engineers involved in developing these systems have themselves raised alarms about the risks. Discussions on a possible future treaty have been ongoing for a decade. After three years of talks, countries are set to decide in November whether to launch full treaty negotiations. The UN and Red Cross leaders called for political courage, warning that failing to act quickly would cost lives.
