In June 2022 a group of seven states circulated a joint paper in which they argued that the systems that should be prohibited are those “completely outside human control and a responsible chain of command.”

This short Article 36 discussion paper argues that this formulation should be abandoned. It fails to draw a useful normative boundary and is incoherent in the terms provided by the working paper. However, the seven-state proposal does contain some useful content in relation to “appropriate human control.” States in this group should find ways to build upon the useful content in that section (which appears also in the policy thinking of others) and not get stuck defending language that is a political and intellectual dead end.