The Austrian government is calling for a system of international ethics on the use of killer robots and drones in combat. Vienna says it wants humans, and not algorithms, to decide on matters of life and death.
Vienna is embarking on a diplomatic initiative to draw up an ethical framework for the use of killer robots on the battlefields of the future.
Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said similar standards should be adopted as those established for landmines and cluster weapons.
“We have to create rules before killer robots reach the battlefield of this Earth,” Schallenberg told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
He said the Austrian government was planning a conference in Vienna in 2021 “to usher in a process “to initiate a process that will hopefully lead to an international convention on the use of artificial intelligence on battlefields.”
Until now, Schallenberg said, the theme has not been sufficiently addressed at a diplomatic level. “With this conference, we want to create a movement between states, experts, and nongovernmental organizations like the Red Cross,” he said.
A total of 30 countries want a full ban on the use of killer robots as part of the campaign, as well as the European Parliament.