" alt="" title=""/>Are killer robots the next threat to humanity? A United Nations report alleges that a killer drone stalked and attacked a person without instructions in order to do the same.
In 2018, the United Nations asked countries to ban killer robots. But the plea was shot down. The latest report by the UN Security Council’s Panel of Experts on Libya says that “an autonomous drone with weapons hunted a human target last year”.
Published in New Scientist in March 2021, the report predicts the dangers posed by militarized technologies capable of making autonomous decisions. The attack in question was carried out by “Kargu-2”, a quadcopter drone produced by the Turkish military technology company STM.
How did the robot attack humans?
The mishap occurred during a conflict between Libyan government forces and a faction led by Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the Libyan national army, The Star reported.
According to reports, the Kargu-2 is fitted with an explosive charge and can be used for kamikaze attacks.
The drones ran in an autonomous mode that did not require human moderation, as such a weapon system does not require a data link between the “operator and the ammunition”. This essentially implies that the killer robots made the decision to attack independently.
Also read: 30 countries support explicit ban on “killer robots”: report
What is the world saying
However, many experts believe that the drone’s ability to attack humans indicates the dangers of such an autonomous weapon technology. In 2020, Human Rights Watch urged caution with such technologies and pleaded with countries to legislate against killer robots. Thirty countries supported the plan to completely ban autonomous weapons, or, as they are commonly known, “killer robots,” according to an August 2020 report by Human Rights Watch.
According to the report, entitled “Stopping Killer Robots: Country Positions to Ban Fully Autonomous Weapons and Maintain Human Control,” an increasing number of countries are recognizing the need to stop “killer robots” that have been formally classified as a deadly autonomous weapon system.
A coalition of 161 non-governmental organizations, including the HRW, has been calling for a complete ban on such weapons since 2013.
“Weapon systems that select and attack targets without meaningful human control are unacceptable and must be prevented,” said HRW.
