Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS) can be defined as weapons systems equipped with Artificial Intelligence (AI). They are an emerging technology and there is still no internationally agreed upon definition. In my opinion, the definition in the report of the Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV & CAVV) captures the description of Autonomous Weapons best from an engineering and military standpoint, because it takes predefined criteria into account and is linked to the military targeting process as the weapon will only be deployed after a human decision. Therefore, I will follow this definition and define Autonomous Weapons as: 'A weapon that, without human intervention, selects and engages targets matching certain predefined criteria, following a human decision to deploy the weapon on the understanding that an attack, once launched, cannot be stopped by human intervention.' [AIV & CAVV, 2016].
展开▼
