What to watch for in New York next week 👀

This is Anna Hehir, FLI’s Head of Military AI, and Maggie Munro, Communications Strategist, here with the (brief) tenth edition of 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 alert: most people are terrified).

With this publication, we’re keeping our audience - primarily consisting of policymakers, journalists, and diplomats - up-to-date on the autonomous weapons 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.

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👀 UN AWS Talks in New York: What to Watch For 🇺🇳

While perhaps not quite as glam as this week’s Met Gala, the UN autonomous weapons talks next week are sure to spark conversation - though instead of “Who’s wearing what?”, the key question will be: “Should algorithms make life-and-death decisions?”.

Following the request put forth in last year’s UN General Assembly resolution on autonomous weapons systems, 12-13 May will see states, civil society, observers, and experts convene in New York to advance critical discussions towards reaching a legally binding instrument.

UNODA has released the programme, which you can check out here. Some highlights we’re looking forward to are the UN Secretary-General’s address, the segment on regional leadership, and the diverse range of panels covering humanitarian, legal, ethical, security, and technological considerations.

Registration to attend is now closed, but you can follow along as we live Tweet the talks on the Future of Life Institute X feed, as well as coverage from Reaching Critical Will and Stop Killer Robots.

Some things to look out for at the meeting:

• Discussions on ethical, security, humanitarian and technological aspects of autonomous weapons. These elements have been sorely missing from the overall discussion and we’re looking forward to states being able to address these issues.

• Participation from states we don’t normally hear from on this issue. The beauty of this meeting is its inclusive nature, inviting all UN member states to attend and participate.

• Many fun side events including a film screening from Stop Killer Robots on Sunday night, a reception hosted by Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Costa Rica on the Monday night, and more 🍷! Shoot us an email for more details.

We’ll see you there! 🍎 👋

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