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Experts from around the globe have come together to petition the United Nations to ban “killer robots”. According to the BBC, 116 leading robot experts have urged the UN to take action in order to prevent the development of killer fighting machines.

During their latest approach to the UN, Musk claimed that AI poses a bigger threat to the world than North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.

In a letter to the international body, artificial intelligence (AI) creators, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, warn the organization of “a third revolution in warfare”.

The experts state that “lethal autonomous” technology is a “Pandora’s box” and time is of the essence when it comes to stopping the development and production of so-called “killer robots”.

What’s more, the 116 experts are also calling for a “ban on the use of AI in managing weaponry.”


“These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways,” it continues. The collective warns that “we do not have long to act. Once this Pandora’s box is opened, it will be hard to close.”

The expert collective states that artificial killing machines are “morally wrong” and the technology should be added to the list of weapons banned under the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Tech Industry Supports AI Weapons Ban

The group includes not only Musk, but other technology leaders including Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of Google’s DeepMind, and other leading industry bigwigs.

Battle robot on city street.

The experts are set to meet after a UN focus group on autonomous weaponry discusses their letter in November. Rumors are rife that the founders of the 116 collective will be invited to the UN to discuss their fears further.

However, this is not a new topic for the UN. The international body has previously discussed banning “killer robots” and several committees have also called for a ban. The issue is an ongoing topic that should be finalized within the very near future, experts claim.

The issue first reared its ugly head in 2015 when more than 1,000 tech experts, researchers and scientists wrote a letter to the UN  warning them of the dangers of autonomous weaponry. Stephen Hawking, Steve Wozniak and Elon Musk were behind that letter.

During their latest approach to the UN, Musk claimed that AI poses a bigger threat to the world than North Korea’s nuclear capabilities. He also said that the development of autonomous weapons would develop a new age in warfare that would be hard to come back from.

Experts claim that nations around the world are now on the brink of jumping forward with so-called “killer robots” and they must be stopped. However, analysts have warned that although countries may publicly denounce the technology, they will be secretly working on developments behind the scenes in case world war three should ever break out.

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