UN, Red Cross call for urgent curbs on autonomous killing machines

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric have warned that autonomous weapons capable of killing people without human involvement could soon be used in conflicts, calling for urgent international negotiations to regulate their deployment, Reuters reports.

“We are now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: the autonomous targeting of humans by machines,” Guterres and Spoljaric said in a joint statement on August 25.

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

The warning comes as states prepare to meet in Geneva next week to discuss potential new rules governing autonomous weapons. Concerns have grown over the use of AI-assisted and semi-autonomous weapons in conflicts including Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, Iran and the Gulf region.

International discussions on the issue have been underway since 2014. While some progress has been made, rapid advances in artificial intelligence and weapons technology have intensified concerns over the need for binding regulations.

Fully autonomous weapons are already used by some militaries, including certain anti-missile systems deployed aboard warships. However, such systems are not currently known to have been used to deliberately target humans without human involvement.

Human rights organizations have warned that AI-driven weapons could be difficult to predict or control, potentially increasing the risk of fatal mistakes, including failures to identify wounded or surrendering combatants.

The use of autonomous systems could also make accountability more difficult in future war crimes cases, rights groups have argued, particularly when it is unclear who should bear responsibility for decisions made by machines.

“States must show political courage and move beyond incremental discussions towards decisive action,” the joint statement said, urging governments to launch negotiations in November, when a major conference on the issue is scheduled to take place in Geneva.

By Vafa Guliyeva