Republished with permission from Common Dreams, by Thor Benson

A Public Citizen report released on Thursday outlines the risks of the Pentagon adopting the use of autonomous weapons on the battlefield and how this could occur in the not-too-distant future.

The report focuses on the Pentagon’s efforts to utilize artificial intelligence in various ways and the American military contractors that are developing weaponry that utilizes AI, including autonomous weapons.

“The single greatest concern involving AI and the Pentagon is the integration of AI into weapons systems such that they can function autonomously, delivering lethal force without intervention or meaningful human control,” the report state. “The most serious worry involving autonomous weapons is that they inherently dehumanize the people targeted and make it easier to tolerate widespread killing, including in violation of international human rights law.”

Though the Pentagon has instituted some policies to ensure AI will be used ethically by the military, the report states, these policies don’t go as far as to ban the use of autonomous weapons—often referred to as “killer robots.”

Furthermore, the report notes that military contractors like General Dynamics, Vigor Industrial, Anduril Industries, and others are currently developing unmanned tanks, submarines, and drones.

“As a discrete weapons technology, autonomous weapons deployment is nearly certain to create an AI weapons arms race. That is the logic of international military strategy. In the United States, a geopolitical rivalry-driven autonomous weapons arms race will be spurred further by the military-industrial complex and corporate contractors,” the report states. “Autonomous weapons are already in development around the world and racing forward.”

Israel has purchased and at times deployed self-piloting, lethal drones. Russia has utilized autonomous drones in Ukraine. The age of the killer robot is here, and Public Citizen warns that the U.S. needs to help prevent the deployment of killer robots from being normalized.

“The United States should pledge not to develop or deploy autonomous weapons, and should support a global treaty banning such weapons,” the report states.

Public Citizen also recommends the U.S. adopt policies that prevent using AI to launch nuclear weapons or using deepfakes on the battlefield, which could be used for “influence operations.”