United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have warned that the rapid development of autonomous weapons is bringing the world closer to a point where machines could independently select and attack human targets.
The organisations renewed their call for legally binding international rules to govern the development and use of the technology.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres and ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric issued the warning in a joint statement on Tuesday, Aug. 25, saying the risks associated with autonomous weapons had intensified since their initial appeal to governments three years ago.
“We are now dangerously close to crossing a moral red line: the autonomous targeting of humans by machines,” they said.
Autonomous weapon systems are generally understood as weapons that, once activated, can select and engage targets without further human intervention.
The ICRC said such systems raise serious humanitarian, ethical and legal concerns because they could reduce human control over decisions involving the use of lethal force.
The organisations said they were not seeking a blanket ban on all forms of autonomous technology but were urging governments to negotiate a legally binding international instrument containing specific prohibitions and restrictions on autonomous weapons.
The renewed appeal comes three years after Guterres and Spoljaric called on governments to conclude such an agreement by 2026.
According to the ICRC, the gap between rapid technological development and international regulation has continued to widen as advances in artificial intelligence and weapons technology accelerate.
The issue has become increasingly urgent as AI and autonomous capabilities are integrated into military systems.
The ICRC, in a position paper published earlier this year, said autonomous weapons could select and engage one or more targets without further human intervention once activated, creating significant challenges for compliance with international humanitarian law.
The warning comes as governments continue negotiations in Geneva under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), the main international forum for discussions on lethal autonomous weapons systems.
The organisations urged states to act urgently to establish clear international limits before the technology advances beyond existing legal and ethical safeguards.
