Summary
There is no single agreed-upon definition of autonomous weapon systems because different groups describe these weapons differently. The authors argue that instead of one fixed definition, a flexible framework is better to classify different types of autonomous weapons under a broad concept. Their framework can adapt to future types of these systems, helping people understand and regulate them more clearly.
What this means in practice
- •For policy makers: Use the framework to create clearer and adaptable regulations for different types of autonomous weapon systems.
- •For defense technology developers: Classify and communicate different autonomous weapon capabilities consistently during design and evaluation.
A position paper. It proposes an approach and reports no results.
Abstract
The literature on autonomous weapon systems (AWS) includes many proposed definitions for these (types of) systems, with core disagreements between scholars, governments, and international regulatory bodies. In this article, we present and critique prevailing (classes of) definitions, arguing that what is needed is not a singular definition, but rather a definitional framework which allows one to classify different sorts of AWS within the same conceptual family. Recognizing we cannot foresee all future AWS, we show how variations on a broadly accepted definition can be used to produce a definitional schema which can be easily modified in order to classify various concepts belonging to the class of AWS.