Humans, Autonomous Systems, and Killing in War

Abstract

Technology has always allowed agents of war to separate themselves from the harm that they or their armed forces inflict with spears, bows and arrows, trebuchets, cannons, firearms, and other modern weaponry, all serving as examples of technologies that have increased the distance between belligerents and supposedly made warfare less sickening than the close-quarters combat of the past. This chapter calls into question the claims of some proponents of a ban moratorium on lethal autonomous weapons systems regarding a responsibility gap and contends that most implications associated with the introduction of autonomous technologies can be resolved by recognizing that autonomy does not mean the elimination of a human influence on the battlefield and advocates for a black-box-type recorder to ensure compliance with just war theory and the laws of war.