UN discusses whether robots should shoot to kill

WE HAVE finally caught up with Isaac Asimov. The UN discussed the ethics of autonomous killer robots for the first time this week.

Former military commanders, researchers and roboticists met at the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons in Geneva, Switzerland, to talk about recent advances in lethal autonomous weapons. Topics included the ethical questions they raise and what laws they affect. The group will file a report with the UN in November.

The threat isn't hypothetical. Russia has equipped missile bases with armed robots that can engage intruders autonomously. On Monday, a Human Rights Watch report called for a ban on such weapons. "As inanimate machines, fully autonomous weapons could truly comprehend neither the value of individual life nor the significance of its loss," it said.