From April 29-30, the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs hosted the ‘Humanity at the Crossroads’: Vienna Conference on Autonomous Weapons Systems. The conference provided an opportunity to advance the debate on the potential international regulation of autonomous weapons systems (AWS), outside of the CCW where conversations remain in a political deadlock.

The meeting was preceded on 28 April by a civil society forum, ‘Action at the Crossroads,’ which included a series of panels, discussions and art exploring autonomy in weapons systems and the need for regulation, which was organised by Stop Killer Robots, the Austrian Red Cross and PAX in partnership with the Austrian government. The forum showed the breadth of civil society concern at AWS, and the appetite for urgent action.

During the Austrian government’s conference, government officials, the UN, ICRC, think tanks, international and regional organisations and civil society members gathered to discuss the challenges posed by AWS and the development of a legally binding instrument to limit the use of AWS. There is now broad support for action, with over 110 states having spoken in favour of a legally binding instrument, as well as a strong call from the UNSG and ICRC to conclude a treaty by 2026.

Article 36’s Director Richard Moyes spoke on an expert panel highlighting the need for rules to be established that require human personnel to understand the systems they are operating and the contexts where these systems are used. He also emphasised that to allow for meaningful human control in practice, this use of AWS needs to be limited. If systems are unable to be used per positive obligations on meaningful human control they should be prohibited. Richard also participated in a side event and highlighted that weapon review processes will be key tools for states to review technologies against a new treaty on AWS but are not adequate by themselves to meet new challenges.

During the conference, there was an opportunity for states and civil society to deliver statements about the use of AWS and the need to develop legislation to regulate its use. Article 36’s Elizabeth Minor gave remarks highlighting the urgency for a treaty prohibiting and regulating AWS and emphasised that willing states must take steps to start negotiations.

At the close of the conference, Austria released a Chair’s Summary, which highlighted the urgency of action and the convergences between states that can already be seen on this issue. The Summary also lays out a set of points raised by speakers to the conference that are of “central importance for future prohibitions and regulations to comprehensively address AWS”: these included the recognition that “targeting people is the most pressing ethical issue”, which was emphasised in the keynote speech to the conference by Jaan Tallinn (the founder of Skype and co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk at the University of Cambridge).

States attending the conference were invited to associate themselves with the “key points” in the Summary, which will be submitted by Austria to the UN Secretary-General for his forthcoming report on addressing the challenges and concerns presented by AWS, mandated by the 2023 UNGA Resolution on ‘Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems’. This resolution calls on the UN Secretary-General to seek the views of states and other stakeholders on “ways to address the related challenges and concerns they raise from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives and on the role of humans in the use of force”, and represents an opportunity to build towards an effective international legal response to AWS in a more inclusive forum. Article 36’s submission to the report can be read here.

There is widespread recognition amongst states that prohibitions and positive obligations will be needed to regulate AWS. These are necessary to preserve human dignity and ensure meaningful human control over weapons systems and the use of force. With the growing use of AI by militaries in various applications – and reports of the serious harm this can be implicated in, such as in Gaza – the Vienna conference must represent a starting point towards developing new international rules. Momentum for a legally binding regulation on AWS is growing: Vienna’s meeting follows regional conferences in Costa Rica, Luxembourg, the Philippines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Sierra Leone, from which there have been various regional declarations of commitment to action.

Following Vienna – and the Austrian Foreign Minister’s remark that he wishes to see a spirit of Vienna generated, as the start of a process – states must commit to act and move forward with negotiations to avoid a dehumanised future where machines can be tasked to kill and apply force without people understanding or being fully responsible for the consequences – and before autonomous weapons systems are regularly used on the battlefield.

Featured image: Article 36’s Director, Richard Moyes, speaks on a panel at the Humanity at the Crossroads conference