Abstract

The human experience of warfare is changing with the introduction of AI in the field of advance weapon technology. Particularly, in the last five years, autonomous weapon system (AWS) has generated intense debate globally over the potential benefit and potential problems associated with these systems. Military planners understand that AWS can perform the most difficult and complex tasks, with or without human interference and, therefore, can significantly reduce military casualties and save costs. These systems act as force multipliers to counter security threats. On the other hand, political pundits and public intellectuals opine that AWS, without human control, can lead to highly problematic ethical and legal consequences, and some even claiming that it is unethical to allow machines control the life and death of a human being. Several prominent public intellectuals, including influential figures like Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak called for banning of “offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control”. But on the contrary, the militaries believe that the AWS can perform better without human control and follow legal and ethical rules better than soldiers. The debate over the AWS is a continuous one. This chapter will look into the emergence of AWS, its future potential and how it will impact future war scenarios, focussing thereby on the debate over the ethical–legal use of AWS and the viewpoints of military planners.