Lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS): meaningful human Control, collective moral responsibility and institutional design

Abstract This article is concerned with three key ethical issues that arise from the use in military combat of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS). The first issue concerns the unpredictability of LAWS in respect of the requirement of Meaningful Human Control (MHC) – as opposed to machine control - in theatres of war. It is argued that the unpredictability of (especially) ‘self-learning’ LAWS is not necessarily a barrier to their morally acceptable use under some restricted conditions. The second issue concerns a normative framework for ascribing moral and, potentially, legal responsibility in respect of LAWS, i.e., the so-called responsibility gap. It is argued that the notion of collective responsibility is potentially helpful here. The third issue concerns human on-the-loop LAWS. It is argued that whereas human out-of-the loop weapons should be prohibited, nevertheless, under certain restrictive conditions some human on-the-loop LAWSs (as well as human in-the-loop LAWSs) may be morally acceptable.