Risks & Realities of Killer Robots

In his sci-fi novel, Runaround, Isaac Asimov introduced the three laws of robotics to explore the moral boundaries of machine intelligence. His robots were programmed to preserve human life, obey ethical constraints, and act only within a tightly defined moral architecture. These laws forced readers to grapple with the limits of delegation and the necessity of conscience in decision-making. This insight is especially relevant today, as warfare increasingly incorporates unmanned systems.

- ADITYA SINHA

In recent conflicts—India's Operation Sindoor, Azerbaijan's use of Turkish drones against Armenian forces, and Ukraine's deep drone strikes into Russian territory—all offensive systems remained human-operated. Humans directed target selection, authorization, and engagement. But now, as the global defense landscape shifts toward lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS), Asimov's warning grows more relevant.

Unlike the author's fictional robot Speedy, these systems will not hesitate when ethical ambiguities arise. They will not wait for human correction. They will act without the possibility of a moral pause.

LAWS are weapons that can select, track, and engage targets without real-time human control. LAWS rely on AI, sensor fusion, and machine learning algorithms to make independent targeting decisions. This autonomy dramatically accelerates response time and expands operational reach, but at significant ethical and legal cost. The development of LAWS is already underway in multiple countries. The US, China, Russia, Israel, and South Korea have invested heavily in autonomous platforms ranging from loitering munitions to swarming drones and autonomous ground systems.

The US military has demonstrated autonomous swarms in exercises like Project Convergence; China is integrating AI into hypersonic systems and naval platforms; and Russia has tested autonomous tanks like Uran-9. Although fully autonomous systems capable of making unsupervised kill decisions are not yet officially deployed, the technological threshold is narrowing.