Ethical Arguments For and Against Killer Robots

Killer robots or autonomous weapon systems (AWS) are representative of theapplication of AI in new areas, where worries about its wide application can befully expressed. This being said, it is expected that such systems have elicited manyreactions. These systems use AI in their main (or critical) functions, i.e. to decideabout the target, and what to be done about it. In recent years there have been manydebates from ethical, legal, and political standpoints about such systems; thesedebates revolve around what position one should adopt on their development,production, and use. Though such questions are important theoretically, the actualtechnological developments are getting closer to the ideals discussed, making theissue even more important. Here I assess some ethical arguments for and againstAWS. It seems that none of the arguments, for or against, is compelling enough totake a position. Therefore, either we should look for further arguments, or look intothe more general implications of the current state of arguments about the just wartheory, the main framework in which the issue is discussed. Along with thisexamination, some main ethical aspects of the issue are reviewed.