The UN met this week to discuss, among other things, the threat of autonomous weapons.
“The technology is developing at a pace that is very concerning,” Laurent Gisel, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC) legal warfare team, told 404 Media. Gisel was in NYC this week to address the UN about all the things that are
driving conflict across
the planet. His prepared remarks include a statement on the illegal arms trade, nuclear weapons, mines, and – of course – AI.
Autonomous weapons have been a
hot topic at the UN this year
. In September, the UN attempted to pass a treaty that would govern the use of killer AI weapons. Diplomats from Russia and the US
stripped it of its power
. 
But the UN has pressed forward. On Tuesday, the international governing body
announced a new initiative
that would grapple with the issue. But, as Gisel said: “multilateral processes take quite some time” and  “we already see the effects on the battlefield.” 
AI is already picking targets and killing people. Gisel said the technology is “amplifying the destruction, amplifying the violation of the law, amplifying the humanitarian harm caused by conflicts.”
Israel used an AI powered by Microsoft to
pick targets in Gaza
. In Ukraine, AI-powered Russian drones are
deciding which humans to kill
. The United States military is pitching itself as an
“AI-first” fighting force
. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently announced Project Meridian, an initiative to guide the AI-powered autonomous weapons of the future. Three of Meridian's leads are Elon Musk, defense contractor Palmer Luckey, and Newt Gingrich.
For Gisel, one of the biggest dangers of AI is how fast it is. A core selling point for the tech is that it can help commanders make decisions faster. But that also accelerates the pace of mistakes. “Targets are created at higher speed and higher frequency, and are actually then prosecuted quicker, and with that give us great concerns in terms of the level o

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