Content
summary Summary

At the international conference "Humanity at the Crossroads" in Vienna, numerous high-ranking experts from politics, the military, science and civil society expressed their grave concerns about the risks of autonomous weapons systems. They urgently call for a legally binding instrument to regulate these technologies.

Ad

Such weapons would dramatically increase the risk of conflict escalation, are ethically highly problematic, and undermine human control over life and death decisions.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg likened the current situation to an "Oppenheimer moment" and called on the international community to act quickly.

Calling on the international community to act quickly, Schallenberg said, "Now is the time to agree on international rules and norms to ensure human control. For that, we need all of you within and outside of governments. We need you to raise your voices. We have a small window of opportunity, so let's use it."

Ad
Ad

He went on to emphasize the importance of maintaining human control over life and death decisions, adding, "We all know that any loss of human life in conflict is one too many, but at least let us make sure that the most profound and far-reaching decision, who lives and who dies, remains in the hands of humans and not of machines."

Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), fears that autonomous weapons systems could lead to the "dehumanization of warfare. Without human control over the use of these weapons, compliance with international humanitarian law is no longer guaranteed, Spoljaric said.

She added that if autonomous weapons systems can select targets and apply force without human intervention, responsibility, and accountability for the use of force would also be lost.

Estonian tech entrepreneur Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype, strongly warns of the dangers of autonomous weapons systems, especially those that can target humans. He sees them as an existential threat to humanity and calls for them to be banned.

Richard Moyes, director of the AI disarmament organization Article 36, emphasized the need for regulation. The ability to predict what will happen when a system is used is based on an understanding of both the technology and the context and how they interact, he explained. To lay this foundation, there needs to be a commitment to a sufficient understanding of the technology and the context.

Recommendation

The two-day conference was hosted by the Austrian government and attracted over 140 countries and almost 900 participants. The discussions are intended to provide impetus for the further diplomatic process with the aim of outlawing autonomous weapons internationally.

Many speakers emphasized that there is not much time left for this, as technologies are advancing rapidly. They said the "Pandora's box" has already been opened, and it is now important to steer developments in the right direction.

Ad
Ad
Join our community
Join the DECODER community on Discord, Reddit or Twitter - we can't wait to meet you.
Support our independent, free-access reporting. Any contribution helps and secures our future. Support now:
Bank transfer
Summary
  • At the international conference "Humanity at the Crossroads" in Vienna, high-ranking experts from politics, the military, academia and civil society warned of the dangers of autonomous weapons systems. They could increase the risk of escalating conflicts, undermine human control over life and death, and lead to the "dehumanization of war."
  • The two-day conference, which brought together nearly 900 participants from more than 140 countries, is intended to give impetus to the ongoing diplomatic process to ban autonomous weapons internationally. Many speakers stressed that time is of the essence, as the technology is advancing rapidly.
  • Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg compared the situation to an "Oppenheimer moment" and stressed the urgency of agreeing on international rules and standards while the window of opportunity is still open.
Sources
Online journalist Matthias is the co-founder and publisher of THE DECODER. He believes that artificial intelligence will fundamentally change the relationship between humans and computers.
Join our community
Join the DECODER community on Discord, Reddit or Twitter - we can't wait to meet you.