Keep autonomous killing machines off the battlefield, activist group says

OTTAWA – Activists on Parliament Hill today are hoping to ensure deadly fighting machines that pick their own targets are never allowed to roam future battlefields.

The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots hopes Canada can be a leader in an international effort to ban autonomous weapons, as it was in the campaign against landmines.

Paul Hannon of Mines Action Canada says the development of robotic weapons systems signals a profound change in the very nature of warfare.

Hannon says it would be far better to squelch the development of the weapons before they are actually built and deployed.

He says once the genie is out of the bottle, it is much harder to get it back in.

Ian Kerr, a law and ethics professor at the University of Ottawa, says removing humans from the decision to kill people poses a serious moral and philosophical problem.