While the technologies being explored under ‘pillar two’ of the AUKUS security pact are becoming clearer, New Zealand’s policy on autonomous weapons and military AI has become increasingly murky.
AI is going to fundamentally transform how nations wage far. By failing to address it, the defence review leaves Australia unprepared for the future of war.
As Russia’s war in Ukraine illustrates, the use of lethal automated weapons, or LAWS, can always be justified. Their ability to desensitize their users from the act of killing, however, shouldn’t be.
The technology exists to build autonomous weapons. How well they would work and whether they could be adequately controlled are unknown. The Ukraine war has only turned up the pressure.
The sentient, murderous humanoid robot is a complete fiction, and may never become reality. But that doesn’t mean we’re safe from autonomous weapons – they are already here.
Diverging views on automated weapons systems could make it difficult for Australia and New Zealand to manage military ties at a delicate time in trans-Tasman relations.
Sci-fi nightmares of a robot apocalypse aside, autonomous weapons are a very real threat to humanity. An expert on the weapons explains how the emerging arms race could be humanity’s last.
Sci-fi nightmares of a robot apocalypse aside, autonomous weapons are a very real threat to humanity. An expert on the weapons explains how the emerging arms race could be humanity’s last.
New Zealanders are worried about autonomous weapons. But military alliances with the US and Australia, and potential economic gains from local robotics research, mean NZ won’t yet take a tough stand.
Like atomic bombs and chemical and biological weapons, deadly drones that make their own decisions must be tightly controlled by an international treaty.
As tensions between the US and Russia escalate, both sides are developing technological capabilities, including artificial intelligence that could be used in conflict.
Lecturer on Law and Associate Director of Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection, International Human Rights Clinic, Harvard Law School, Harvard University