UN chief calls for action against “killer robots”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for new rules governing the use of autonomous weapons.
For eight years, countries have discussed limits on lethal autonomous weapons (LAWS) at UN talks. These weapons are fully controlled by machines and rely on new technologies such as artificial intelligence and facial recognition. However, pressure has recently intensified, partly due to a UN group report stating that the first attack by autonomous drones may have already taken place in Libya.
This refers to news from May 2021: for the first time, a combat drone attacked a human without a direct order. The KARGU-2 strike quadcopter autonomously attacked a person during a clash between rival groups in the Libyan civil war. The device independently targeted one of the Libyan army soldiers and fired a lethal shot without an operator's order.
Military experts then confirmed that this was the first incident in which a drone independently decided to eliminate an opponent. At the same time, Human Rights Watch called for a ban on developing, producing and using autonomous weapons. Human rights advocates believe this “will put an end to killer robots”.
“I call on the Review Conference to agree on an ambitious plan for the future to establish limits on the use of certain types of autonomous weapons”
The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons has 125 participants, including the US, China and Israel. Some states parties, such as Austria, call for a complete ban on LAWS, while others, including Washington, are more cautious and point to the potential advantages of such weapons, which could be more accurate than humans in hitting targets.
Amnesty International and civil society groups urge countries to begin negotiations on an international treaty. Clare Conboy from Stop Killer Robots said: “Technological development is really beginning to outpace the speed of diplomatic negotiations. This is a historic opportunity for states to take steps to protect humanity from autonomy in the use of force.”
France's ambassador for disarmament Yann Hwang, who chairs the talks, called for “key and vital decisions.” However, diplomats said this body, which requires consensus, is unlikely to reach an agreement to launch an international treaty, and Russia in particular is expected to oppose such a step.
“There is not enough support for signing a treaty at this stage, but we think some principles could be agreed for implementation at the national level,” said a diplomat involved in the talks.
If an agreement cannot be reached, countries may move the talks to another forum within or outside the United Nations.
Among recent weapons innovations related to robotics and artificial intelligence are electromagnetic weapons created with AI in China and the world's first drone with laser weapons in Turkey.
In December 2021, specialists at the Naval Engineering University in Wuhan reported successfully using neural networks to develop electromagnetic weapons. With AI's help, engineers created a record-power Gauss pistol, after which they began work on electromagnetic guns for ships.
The Gauss gun is one of the simplest and most common types of electromagnetic weapons. Principle of operation: a short, powerful current pulse is fed into conductive coils inside the barrel, creating an electromagnetic field that accelerates a magnetized projectile and launches it from the barrel.
Such weapons allow silent firing with low recoil even in space, and the firing energy can be increased simply by lengthening the barrel with coils. However, the energy efficiency of Gauss guns is low.
Chinese engineers said that the first samples of their gun resembled the GR-1 Anvil (the most powerful American portable rifle), but the neural network discarded them and began developing more compact variants. AI proposed a number of optimizations that increased the weapon's efficiency several times over.
As a result, the final prototype from Chinese military engineers went from a rifle to a pistol with a barrel length of just 12 cm, and its muzzle energy reached 150 joules, comparable to small-caliber firearm rifles.
China's navy has already begun using artificial intelligence to work on naval railguns, a type of electromagnetic gun that accelerates a projectile between two conductive “rails” instead of coils. Railguns can fire 150-200 km, and projectile speed can exceed 6,000 km/h.
Also in December 2021, the Turkish Eren drone made successful shots from distances of 100, 300 and 500 m. The device can destroy explosive devices at a distance using laser weapons. The drone's maximum flight altitude is 3,000 m.
During tests, Eren struck a steel plate. The drone was developed by defense companies Tübtak and Assguard in cooperation with the Forensic Department of the Turkish General Security Directorate. After all test phases, the device will be handed over to the country's Ministry of Defense. It is worth noting that Turkish military drones are in demand in other countries.
