Vatican: ‘Killer robots’ pose threat to innocent civilians - CathNews New Zealand

Vatican: ‘Killer robots’ pose threat to innocent civilians

Thursday, August 19th, 2021

The use of ‘killer robots’ and other lethal autonomous weapons systems violate international treaties because innocent civilians could be erroneously targeted, the Vatican said during a UN meeting in Geneva.

The potential of having “swarms of ‘kamikaze’ mini-drones” and other advanced weaponry using artificial intelligence raises “serious implications for peace and security,” the Vatican permanent observer mission to UN agencies in Geneva said in a statement Aug. 3 to the 2021 Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS).

“The use of swarms in urban areas could lead to high risks for civilians,” the statement said. “If functioning without any direct human supervision, such systems could make mistakes in identifying the intended targets due to some unidentified ‘bias’ induced by their ‘self-learning capabilities’ developed from a limited set of data samples.”

Related Posts:

Additional reading

News category: News Shorts, World.

Tags: Group of Governmental Experts, Killer robots, Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems

Analysis and Comment
- The optimism of Timothy Radcliffe
  
  Fr Timothy Radcliffe, the Dominican friar, was chosen by Pope Francis to lead the three-day retreat for all participants prior to the first assembly last October of the Synod on Synodality. This was a position of great trust given the Read more
- Theologian: The future of the church is local
  
  In Europe, the number of church members is declining – but Christianity remains strong worldwide. However, the structures do not remain stable, but are constantly changing. Thomas Schlag is Professor of Practical Theology at the University of Zurich, where he Read more
- The perils and necessities of saying ‘I don’t know’
  
  When I was studying political science in graduate school, I was surrounded by students who were much smarter than me. Most of my fellow students at the University of California Berkeley went to Ivy League schools as undergraduates. They were Read more
- Survey: New priests are young and involved in their community
  
  The incoming class of seminarians who will be ordained in 2024 is young and involved in their community, an annual survey released April 15 found. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned the Center for Applied Research (CARA) at Georgetown Read more

Search CathNews

Search for:
CathNews
is free

First Name:

Last Name:

Email:
Great Reads