Understanding the Global Debate on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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Understanding the Global Debate on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS)

Posted 05 Jun 2025

1 min read

LAWS is a class of advanced weapons that can identify and engage targets without human intervention.

  • At present, no commonly agreed definition of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) exists.
  • Ethical Question: Can we ethically delegate life-and-death decisions to machines without compromising human moral agency and dignity?

The ethical debate on Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS)

Ethical Concerns in in human-machine (Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems) Interactions

  • Automation bias: Where humans place too much confidence in the operation of an autonomous machine.
  • Surprises: Where a human is not fully aware of how a machine is functioning at the point s/he needs to take back control.
  • Moral buffer: Where the human operator shifts moral responsibility and accountability to the machine as a perceived legitimate authority.
  • Tags :
  • LAWS
  • Automation bias
  • Moral Buffer
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