FLI in NYC: Gathering Global Leaders for Autonomous Weapons Systems Regulation

This is Anna Hehir, FLI’s Head of Military AI Governance, Maggie Munro, Communications Strategist, Éle Donegan, Military AI Fellow, and Ann Deer, UN Engagement Lead here with The Autonomous Weapons Newsletter. We’re excited to bring you the news on autonomous weapons systems (AWS) at a pivotal moment, as the world comes to terms with whether algorithms should make life and death decisions (spoiler: most people are terrified).

With this publication, we’re keeping our audience - primarily consisting of policymakers, journalists, and diplomats - up-to-date on the military AI space, covering policymaking efforts, weapons systems technology, and more.

That being said, if you have no idea what we’re talking about, check out autonomousweapons.org for our starter guide on the topic.

If you’ve enjoyed reading this, please be sure to subscribe and share as widely as possible.

The United Nations General Assembly High Level Week in NYC

From Geneva to New York, military AI is on the agenda and this week we saw world leaders speaking out at the highest level. From powerful opening statements in the General Assembly and AI CEO briefings at the Security Council, to corridor conversations and private events, everyone is talking AI. 🇺🇳🗽

Autonomous weapons and military AI are one of the few areas where multilateral governance efforts are already taking place.

In that vein, we have two major military AI highlights to share with you from our week 🍎 🌐:

The first, on 21 September, President of Finland Alexander Stubb, Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre, and 26 other heads of government put out a joint statement on the need to keep AI "under human direction, oversight and control". The joint statement includes representation from every UN region - the characteristics of a global movement - and is in response to the recent spike of reported incidents exposing the risks of AI. Stubb highlighted that "killer robots using AI for lethal attacks" was one of three reasons for the group’s coalition and call to action.

The second, for the first time ever, a group of government leaders came together to call for the beginning of negotiations for an international treaty on weapons that kill without human intervention at a UNGA High Level Week event on autonomous weapons systems, “A Transformation States Can Govern: Preserving Human Judgement and Control in the Age of AI,” hosted at the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations.

We were incredibly grateful to co-sponsor this event with six states across four regions: Nigeria, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines, as well as the the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and The Elders. 🇳🇬 🇦🇹 🇧🇪 🇵🇭 🇲🇽 🇧🇷 🇺🇳

This is what political leadership looks like 👇

Throughout the evening we heard incredible remarks from:

• Gen. Christopher Musa (retd), Minister of Defence of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

• Beate Meinl-Reisinger, Federal Minister for European and International Affairs of the Republic of Austria

• Juan Manuel Santos, Chair of the Elders; former President of Colombia; Nobel Peace Laureate

• Volker Türk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

• Izumi Nakamitsu, Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs

• Ambassador Carlos Márcio Cozendey, Secretary of Multilateral Political Affairs of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

• Eduardo Sánchez, Director General for the United Nations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico

• Elyse Mosquini, Permanent Observer of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Together these leaders discussed the moral and security risks posed by AWS, the looming threat of proliferation of cheap dangerous systems, and the political momentum that exists today that must be captured ahead of the November Review Conference for the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

We witnessed a live illustration of how human judgement and control can be displaced in autonomous targeting from Prof. Max Tegmark and former President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos.

The illustration demonstrated the technical realities and fallacies of AWS that exist today. Together, Prof. Tegmark and President Santos demonstrated facial recognition capabilities of an autonomous (unarmed) drone, reminding the room of the need for a prohibition of autonomous anti-personnel systems.

It was a historic occasion and a night we will long remember. We are so grateful for all those that were able to join during a busy UNGA High Level Week. We are particularly grateful to our co-sponsors and speakers for their powerful remarks that encapsulated their political will for negotiations to begin for a legally binding instrument on AWS.

To quote Austrian Foreign Minister, H.E Beate Meinl-Reisinger: “It is time to act. It is time for an international instrument.”

Multilateral dreams and memes

If you’re a diplomat, have been a diplomat, work with diplomats, or know someone who repeatedly says “I used to be a diplomat”, we highly recommend checking out the memes and hot takes from Jeremy Dicker over at International Intrigue. Diplomacy can be a thankless job and we see you, all those souls who had to find the activated almonds for the Minister in order to advance the national interest.

What we’re reading and watching

• This piece from Magnus Løvold at Lex International. It is the most honest and accurate depiction we have read of the AWS lay of the land. A must read.

• This Bloomberg article by Katrina Manson, featuring our own Anna Hehir discussing the need for UN action on AWS given recent reports of civilian deaths.

• This exclusive in the Washington Post that describes the dilution of the Rolling Text on LAWS as a “death by a thousand paper cuts.” Brutal honesty. We all need it.

• The UN AWS conversation is going viral. Check out this instagram post from journalist and writer Aya Jaff. Notice the public intrigue and outrage it has sparked…

• Another great one from Magnus Løvold in the form of an op-ed in a Norwegian publication urging Norway to lead the way on a legally binding instrument that bans fully autonomous weapons.

• More viral moments! Check out Maria Comstock’s tiktok post interviewing our very own Anna Hehir.

• This New York Times podcast episode from The Daily that looks at what world leaders can learn from nuclear disarmament and bring to AI disarmament. It’s almost like we’ve seen this film before…

Overheard this month

• In his final address to the UN General Assembly as Secretary General, António Guterres said unequivocally that “Life and death decision must never be surrendered to machines, and killer robots must have no place in our future.”

• Izumi Nakamitsu, the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, reminded attendees at our UNGA High Level Week event that the text agreed in Geneva in September was “the floor” and that we must “build on that floor and come up with an instrument that will actually regulate”.

• “The world sits up and takes notice” Elyse Mosquini, Head of the Permanent Observer of the ICRC to the UN in New York, reminded the room of how rare and important it is when the UNSG and the President of the ICRC combine their voices to call for change. Something they have consistently done on AWS regulation.

• Eduardo Sánchez, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico closed out our High Level Week event with a powerful call to action: “We cannot miss this opportunity. We cannot delegate matters of life and death to an algorithm. This is our duty as humans, as representatives of states.. this is more crucial than ever….Let’s keep ensuring that there will be a legally binding instrument.”

Military AI in the News

• This Bloomberg piece on the over-reliance on AI that contributed to the missile strike on Minab that killed 124 children earlier this year.

• This article showing an AI-piloted drone that can map out a space, identify a person and stalk them from room to room. This type of technology (not necessarily this exact product) is accessible to civilians and can be deployed in military contexts.

• CNN reported that an AI-generated intelligence report circulated within the US military “almost started a war” after a chatbot hallucinated information about transportation of components of a nuclear weapons program.

As we said to open this edition of the newsletter, everyone is talking AI, world leaders are talking AI regulation, and we are talking autonomous weapons treaty. Stay tuned for more updates as UN First Committee begins in New York and we continue on the road to the Review Conference in November, where States will decide whether to launch negotiations of a treaty on autonomous weapons.

Contact us

For tips or feedback, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].