US, Russia block formal talks on whether to ban 'killer robots'

UN meeting concludes without moving closer to binding international rules.

By JANOSCH DELCKER 9/1/18, 2:21 PM CET Updated 9/1/18, 6:56 PM CET

The United States and Russia were among a small number of countries that blocked the U.N. from moving toward talks on whether to ban so-called killer robots.

During a week of meetings in Geneva, which ended in the early hours of Saturday, a group at the United Nations’ Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) discussed whether to take negotiations on fully autonomous weapons powered by artificial intelligence to a formal level that could lead to a treaty banning them.

However, a list of non-binding recommendations that participating countries agreed on, seen by POLITICO, dodges the question of whether to move on to formal negotiations.

Mary Wareham, coordinator of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, said that Russia, the U.S., South Korea, Israel and Australia were the main countries opposing the call for action.

“It’s a disappointment, of course, that a small minority of large military powers can hold back the will of the majority,” she said.

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https://www.politico.eu/article/killer-robots-us-russia-block-formal-talks-on-whether-to-ban/