Publication

This report is designed as a preliminary investigation into the risk and ethics issues related to autonomous military systems, with a particular focus on battlefield robotics. It is intended to help inform policymakers, military personnel, scientists, as well as the broader public who collectively influence such developments. Issues addressed include: the presumptive case for the use of autonomous military robotics; the need to address risk and ethics in the field; the current and predicted state of military robotics; programming approaches as well as relevant ethical theories and considerations; a framework for technology risk assessment; ethical and social issues, both near‐ and far‐term; and recommendations for future work.