More than 100 leaders in the field of robotics have signed an open letter calling on the United Nations to prevent a global arms race in autonomous lethal weapons.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is among the letter's 116 signatories, whose companies are all engaged in developing artificially intelligent technologies.
The letter urges the United Nations (UN), which has convened an expert panel on the issue, to stop these technologies being repurposed into killing machines that can identify and attack a target without human intervention.
It asks the UN and its Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems "to work hard at finding means to prevent an arms race in these weapons, to protect civilians from their misuse and to avoid the destabilising effects of these technologies."
The GGE will consider whether such weapons should be added to the list of those banned or restricted under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
"Lethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare," the letter reads. "Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend.
"These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways. We do not have long to act. Once this Pandora's box is opened, it will be hard to close."

Source: dezeen.com