Autonomous Weapons: Regulation Tolerant or Regulation Resistant?

Abstract

This paper applies the author's previously published model for evaluating weapons' susceptibility to attempts to generate international regulations on autonomous weapons. The paper concludes that while autonomous weapon systems presently demonstrate characteristics of both regulation tolerance and resistance, on balance, considerations of resistance, especially uncertainty as to effectiveness prevail and indicate a low likelihood that States will in the immediate future consent to a meaningfully-ratified specific regulation or a preemptive ban.

Keywords: law of war, international humanitarian law, weapons, autonomous weapons, law of armed conflict, weapons bans