If you thought the destruction of the human race by killer robots was a grim inevitability, think again.
There have been calls for suitable regulation surrounding the use of robot weapons such as drones, which should hopefully stop them from turning against and wiping us out.
A new paper from the Oxford Martin School at the city’s university has urged the governments of the world to recognise the potential that robotic weapons and drones have in the future of warfare and act accordingly.
Dr Alex Leveringhaus, the paper’s lead author, says: “Many people are uncomfortable with the concept of an autonomous robotic weapon, or even with the idea that military personnel can ‘kill by remote control’.”
Currently there are a number of drones in operation that can carry out remotely-controlled missile attacks as well as robotic weapons. While these are currently controlled by humans, the fear is they could become fully autonomous, identifying and destroying targets without human intervention.
The worry is that the new technological advances are being implemented before there’s a chance to reach a consensus on the legal and ethical issues surrounding the killer robots.
The paper, Robo-Wars: The Regulation of Robotic Weapons, calls for human control over weapons at all times to be a priority, with the ability of human operators to override them if needed.
They also want states and the military to work together to define where and when robotic weapons can be used and to frame the legal and ethical restrictions.
It might just be enough to spark some kind of agreement between world leaders and prevent the day when the robots turn on us and throw us all into volcanoes.
Maybe.