Autonomous Weapons: Machines Decide Over Life and Death

DW (English)

Drones that attack on their own, robotic vehicles in combat—autonomous weapons are taking on more tasks. For now, humans have the final say. But how much longer will that be the case?

Transcript

00:00Autonomous defense systems have been around for quite some time now.

00:04They can help ward off drones, which often go unnoticed until the very last second.

00:09But this autonomy isn't exclusive to defense.

00:12Increasingly, modern weapons are making autonomous decisions on attacks.

00:18Loitering munitions, for example, which circle over a target area, searching for and identifying

00:26hostile objects.

00:28They then attack targets autonomously, without human intervention – that's different

00:33from a passive reaction to an approaching projectile.

00:37Loitering munitions might take the form of kamikaze drones.

00:42They circle over an area for up to nine hours.

00:46Sensors identify potential targets, comparing them to the targets they were trained on.

00:53In the event of a good match, the drone and its explosive charge descends.

00:58Crashing straight into the target.

01:02Typically, soldiers will monitor the process, keeping a human in the loop.

01:07If in doubt, they can still abort.

01:10The minimum requirement we should have is that when we use autonomy in weapon systems – and

01:19by we I mean the Bundeswehr or NATO – then we ensure meaningful human control.

01:25For example, that humans have an appropriate level of command.

01:28That's the only one-to-range machine system.

01:30Armored escort vehicles can follow soldiers autonomously across rugged terrain.

01:36Vehicles like this and so-called robot dogs can be equipped and programmed for varying degrees

01:41of autonomy.

01:42But the more data is processed, the faster decisions have to be made.

01:49The more humans are sidelined.

01:52In my view, this is the trend that should be monitored.

02:01Humans are gradually being pushed out of the decision-making process.

02:09The machine makes more and more decisions – until, at some point, they are faced with the question

02:14– me or the machine?

02:18Thomas Küchenmeister is the German spokesman for the campaign to stop killer robots.

02:23The organization is advocating for a United Nations ban or at least regulation of autonomous

02:29weapons systems.

02:31But so far, the UN has been unable to reach a conclusion.

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