April 07, 2015

Autonomous Weapons at the UN: A Primer for Delegates

By Kelley Sayler, Michael Horowitz and Paul Scharre

In advance of the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, CNAS experts Paul Scharre, Michael Horowitz, and Kelley Sayler provide a primer on autonomous weapons. The authors conclude that States should follow these discussions with a more focused examination of the strategic stability issues surrounding LAWS, perhaps in the form of a working group.

Authors

  • Kelley Sayler

    Kelley Sayler is a former Associate Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where she worked with the Defense Strategies and Assessments Program and the ...

  • Michael Horowitz

    Adjunct Senior Fellow, Technology and National Security Program

    Michael C. Horowitz is a professor of political science and the associate director of Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also an adjunct senior fellow ...

  • Paul Scharre

    Senior Fellow and Director, Technology and National Security Program

    Paul Scharre is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. He is author of Army of None: Autonomou...

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    • September 27, 2018
    Future of Life Institute: AI and Nuclear Weapons – Trust, Accidents, and New Risks with Paul Scharre and Mike Horowitz

    In 1983, Soviet military officer Stanislav Petrov prevented what could have been a devastating nuclear war by trusting his gut instinct that the algorithm in his early-warning...

    By Michael Horowitz & Paul Scharre

  • Video
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    What will autonomous weapons mean for how future wars are waged and the loss of human lives in armed conflicts? That's the topic of a new book, Army of None: Autonomous Weapon...

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  • Commentary
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    • September 13, 2018
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    Militaries around the globe are racing to build ever more autonomous drones, missiles, and cyberweapons. Greater autonomy allows for faster reactions on the battlefield, an ad...

    By Paul Scharre

  • Commentary
    • Foreign Policy
    • September 12, 2018
    The Algorithms of August

    An artificial intelligence arms race is coming. It is unlikely to play out in the way that the mainstream media suggest, however: as a faceoff between the United States and Ch...

    By Michael Horowitz

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