Slaughterbots, also called ‘lethal autonomous weapons systems’ or ‘killer robots’, are weapons that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to identify, select, and kill human targets without human intervention. Though these weapons sound futuristic, reports of their use are starting to mount up. The Future of Life Institute considers slaughterbots to be both immoral and a major threat to global security.

The FLI policy team encourages the formation of new international law on autonomous weapons. Alongside a majority of the world’s states, FLI argues that some autonomous weapons must be banned - specifically, those which target humans, which are highly unpredictable, or which function beyond meaningful human control. FLI, alongside the Red Cross, calls for other autonomous weapons - those that can be meaningfully controlled by humans - to be regulated.