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Professor Ronald C. Arkin of the Georgia Institute of Technology, who will be debating the pros and cons of autonomous weapons at the UN meeting, says he is not in favor of an outright ban, arguing that autonomous weapons could, if properly designed, reduce human casualties in war.
Arkin told The Wall Street Journal that systems like these should not be deployed unless they can comply with international humanitarian law. He added that the machines should be able to outperform human combatants from an ethical perspective, with the hope of leading to a reduction in civilian casualties in conflict. “If that bar cannot be met then they should not be deployed,” he said, adding that he supports a moratorium until such time as that bar can be met. “The original call for moratoria by the UN Special rapporteur were self imposed. I’m not sure if a ban or anything stronger is enforceable,” Arkin said.
