Monthly archive October, 2017

Kantian Ethics in the Age of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

1. Introduction Artificial intelligence and robotics is pervasive in daily life and set to expand to new levels potentially replacing human decision-making and action. Self-driving cars, home and healthcare robots, and autonomous weapons are some examples. A distinction appears to be emerging between potentially benevolent civilian uses of the technology (eg unmanned aerial vehicles delivering...

Human rights implications of autonomous weapon systems in domestic law enforcement: sci-fi reflections on a lo-fi reality

1. Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS) and human rights: An introduction to the debate Novelists and filmmakers have been speculating on the interaction between human beings and robots for years. Isaac Asimov, in particular, devoted an important part of his bibliography to the issue. He created a world where robots are integrated in our society and...

Jus in bello and jus ad bellum arguments against autonomy in weapons systems: A re-appraisal

1. Introduction The ethical and legal implications of the development and use of weapons systems able to perform the critical functions of target selection and engagement autonomously (ie without any intervention by human operators) are currently in the spotlight. The issue has recently gained widespread media coverage with the launch, on 21 August 2017, of...

Coming Soon…? A reappraisal of the legal and ethical implications of Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS) ahead of the first meeting of the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal AWS

Introduced by Elena Carpanelli and Nicole Lazzerini *     The emergence of a new generation of tech-devices, featuring forms of Artificial Intelligence (AI), appears more and more a ‘future present’, rather than science or cinematographic fiction. Several automated and algorithmic decision-making systems are already involved in our daily routine and scientific efforts have turned...