Skip to content
All Open Letters

Autonomous Weapons Open Letter: Global Health Community

Given our commitment to do no harm, the global health community has a long history of successful advocacy against inhumane weapons, and the World and American Medical Associations have called for bans on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Now, recent advances in artificial intelligence have brought us to the brink of a new arms race in lethal autonomous weapons.
Signatures
276
Add your signature
Published
March 13, 2019

Hosting, signature verification and list management are supported by FLI; for administrative questions about this letter, please contact Dr. Emilia Javorsky.

Lethal Autonomous Weapons: An Open Letter from the Global Health Community

Given our commitment to do no harm, the global health community has a long history of successful advocacy against inhumane weapons, and the World and American Medical Associations have called for bans on nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Now, recent advances in artificial intelligence have brought us to the brink of a new arms race in lethal autonomous weapons.

In contrast to semi-autonomous weapons that require human oversight to ensure that each target is validated as ethically and legally legitimate, such fully autonomous weapons select and engage targets without human intervention, representing complete automation of lethal harm. This ability to selectively and anonymously target groups of people without human oversight would carry dire humanitarian consequences and be highly destabilizing. By nature of being cheap and easy to mass produce, lethal autonomous weapons can fall into the hands of terrorists and despots, lower the barriers to armed conflict, and become weapons of mass destruction enabling very few to kill very many. Furthermore, autonomous weapons are morally abhorrent, as we should never cede the decision to take a human life to algorithms. As healthcare professionals, we believe that breakthroughs in science have tremendous potential to benefit society and should not be used to automate harm. We therefore call for an international ban on lethal autonomous weapons.

There’s a similar letter available to AI & Robotics Researchers here.

Add your signature

Signatories

To date, the open letter has been signed by Health professionals and others. The list of signatories includes:

National & International Organizations:

Health Professionals:

You need javascript enabled to view the open letter signers.

Other Endorsers:

You need javascript enabled to view the open letter signers.
Read More
OPEN LETTERS

Related posts

If you enjoyed this, you also might like:
Signatories
1

Carta aberta convocando os líderes mundiais a demonstrarem liderança com visão de longo prazo em relação às ameaças existenciais

O The Elders, Future of Life Institute e uma gama diversificada de cossignatários solicitam aos decisores uma abordagem urgente aos impactos contínuos e riscos crescentes da crise climática, pandemias, armas nucleares e da IA não governada.
February 14, 2024
Signatories
1

Offener Brief, der die Staatsoberhäupter und Führungskräfte der Welt auffordert, bei existenziellen Bedrohungen eine langfristig ausgerichtete Führungsrolle zu übernehmen

The Elders, das Future of Life Institute und eine vielfältige Gruppe von Mitunterzeichnenden fordern Entscheidungsträger und Entscheidungsträgerinnen dazu auf, die andauernden Auswirkungen und eskalierenden Risiken von Klimakrise, Pandemien, Atomwaffen und unkontrollierter KI dringend anzugehen.
February 14, 2024
Signatories
1

رسالة مفتوحة تدعو قادة العالم إلى إظهار قيادة بعيدة النظر بشأن التهديدات الوجودية

يحث الشيوخ ومعهد مستقبل الحياة ومجموعة متنوعة من الموقعين المشاركين صناع القرار على معالجة التأثير المستمر والمخاطر المتصاعدة لأزمة المناخ والأوبئة والأسلحة النووية والذكاء الاصطناعي غير الخاضع للحكم بشكل عاجل.
February 14, 2024
Signatories
1

Lettre ouverte appelant les dirigeants mondiaux à faire preuve de leadership à long terme face aux menaces existentielles

Les Elders, le Future of Life Institute et une gamme diversifiée de cosignataires exhortent les décideurs à aborder de toute urgence à l’impact continu et les risques croissants de la crise climatique, des pandémies, des armes nucléaires et de l’IA non gouvernée.
February 14, 2024

Sign up for the Future of Life Institute newsletter

Join 40,000+ others receiving periodic updates on our work and cause areas.
cloudmagnifiercrossarrow-up linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram