Introduction
Recent developments in technology have made possible the creation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that are capable of operating at high altitudes for extended periods of time. These UAVs are capable of deploying precision guided weapons, and can be controlled remotely from the other side of the world. This means that American UAV pilots are able to kill with the push of a button from thousands of miles away.
In addition to these advancements are developments in artificial intelligence (AI). Computer scientists have created programs that are able to learn, and their capabilities are increasing at an exponential rate. Soon, it is conceivable that these computer programs could be taught to make targeting …show more content…
The Pentagon’s budget outlines $18 billion to be spent on technology for autonomous weapons over the next three years. In 2014, the Air Force tested a long range anti-ship missile (LRASM) that has the ability to travel to its target, avoid air defense systems, and identify which target to hit, all autonomously. Countries such as the Britain, Norway, and Israel all have their own domestic programs with similar ends in mind. These developments have raised concern in the international community, and some within the United Nations have called for a ban on the development of such …show more content…
They are cheaper, safer, and more capable. It is likely that they will soon be able to perform some of the functions required to act in accordance with the jus in bello principle. They will likely be able to follow rules of engagement and even a basic level of discrimination between armed and unarmed individuals. However, in the scope of current and near future technology, autonomous weapons fail to meet the requirements of an ethical means to wage war. A machine cannot use proportionality like a human being to judge the viability of a strike, since it lacks the fundamental human emotions which allow us to determine a proportional from disproportional attack. If an autonomous weapon were to hit the wrong target, it cannot be held accountable. A machine cannot break the rules that are programed into it to make difficult ethical decisions that have not been faced before and have no clear answer. In short, computer programs lack a warrior code to guide their actions in a way that humans due, and so for the foreseeable future, human must be the ones who make the decision to use lethal