autonomous weapons

An autonomous weapon is any form of missile, drone or armed vehicle that uses AI to make its own decisions. This may be about navigating terrain, but may also include choosing targets. The latter has given rise to substantial concern as there is no human in the loop to ensure that only acceptable military targets are attacked. AI is also used extensively in other military applications, including offering advice on targetting, but without the systems being completely autonomous.

There have been calls to ban fully autrinomous weapons, but this may be too late – The Guardian reports that air and ground launched autonomous drones are already being used by Ukrainian troops.