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Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Ethics

2015

International Law

U.S. Naval War College

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Twenty Seconds To Comply: Autonomous Weapon Systems And The Recognition Of Surrender, Robert Sparrow Oct 2015

Twenty Seconds To Comply: Autonomous Weapon Systems And The Recognition Of Surrender, Robert Sparrow

International Law Studies

Would it be ethical to deploy autonomous weapon systems (AWS) if they were unable to reliably recognize when enemy forces had surrendered? I suggest that an inability to reliably recognize surrender would not prohibit the ethical deployment of AWS where there was a limited window of opportunity for targets to surrender between the launch of the AWS and its impact. However, the operations of AWS with a high degree of autonomy and/or long periods of time between release and impact are likely to remain controversial until they have the capacity to reliably recognize surrender.