autonomous weapons

Terms from Artificial Intelligence: humans at the heart of algorithms

Page numbers are for draft copy at present; they will be replaced with correct numbers when final book is formatted. Chapter numbers are correct and will not change now.

An autonomous weapon is any form of missile, drone or armed vehicle that uses AI to make its own decsions. 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 used extensively in other military applications, including offering advice on targetting, but without the systems being completely autonomous.

Used on Chap. 20: page 488; Chap. 23: page 571; Chap. 24: page 585