U.N. makes progress toward regulating ‘killer robots’

After years of discussion, nearly 130 countries have agreed on a common definition of autonomous weapons, which critics often call “killer robots.” The Dutch foreign minister, Tom Berendsen, described the agreement as a first success in efforts to restrict such systems.

“While military technology is developing rapidly, this marks an important step in regulating these systems,” Berendsen wrote on X. The talks took place in Geneva under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which bans or restricts weapons that cause excessive suffering or operate indiscriminately.

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While military technology is developing rapidly, this marks an important step in regulating these systems.

The adopted document was not published, according to AFP. Reaching a shared definition represents an initial step, but the International Committee of the Red Cross said the United Nations must go further.

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The development and deployment of autonomous weapons without a clear, restrictive framework raise serious legal, ethical and humanitarian questions.

The organization called for legally binding rules that would ban unpredictable autonomous weapons and systems designed to use force directly against people. It said the development and deployment of autonomous weapons without a clear, restrictive framework raise serious legal, ethical and humanitarian questions.

Nicole van Rooijen, acting director of the Stop Killer Robots campaign, said the document also addresses how international humanitarian law should apply to autonomous weapons and reaffirms the need for substantial human control. She called that point decisive.

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The decisive point.