Autonomy of killer robots and the law

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) or combat (killer) robots, whose distinguished feature is independence in making decisions about the use of weapons, have been increasingly attracting the attention of lawyers in recent years. A breakthrough in the development of artificial intelligence has allowed a qualitative leap in the development of technology, where is minimum human participation in decision-making process. In the civil sphere, this has led to the development of self-driving cars (unmanned aircrafts, unmanned ground vehicles) and special legal regulation in terms of ownership and movement of such vehicles as well as discussions about the subjects of responsibility in case of damage. These issues are even more relevant to LAWS. To date, there is a very controversial practice in the application of LAWS. At the same time each year increasing number of States declare the presence of its own capacity regarding relevant developments. Against this background, there is a growing discussion on ways of further development of international legal regulation in this area, essentially aimed at establishing significant restrictions for States on its development and use (application). The authors of the article note the main directions of the ongoing discussion, evaluate the proposed options for the development of legal regulation.