The United Nations may be acting too slowly to enact legislation to prevent the rise of autonomous killer robots, experts warned.
The debate, which began last April, at a Geneva conference is currently languishing in the General Assembly building in New York City.
While wrangling over the wording of a statement banning robot militarization continues, rogue nations or extremists may eventually attempt to deploy predator robots.
Special adviser to the ongoing U.N. debate, Christof Heyns cautioned, "A lot of money is going into development and people will want a return on their investment. Once the genie is out of the bottle it will be extremely difficult to get it back in."
Prof. Noel Sharkey, co-founder of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, and robotics instructor at the University of Sheffield UK, agreed that trouble may be brewing.
"China wanted to discuss 'existing and emerging technologies' but the wording insisted on by the U.S. and the UK is that it is only about emerging technologies," he told The Guardian.
While no fully autonomous robots have been deployed in warfare yet, many have been designed and slated for testing.
Guest on the 9/28 C2C show, investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen, author of the recent "The Pentagon's Brain," is more than a bit concerned about the possibilities of cybernetic soldiers. She has claimed that a top secret military program, ostensibly designed for radical brain trauma therapy, may be leading to a hunter/killer AI robot.
South Korea already has Sentry robot SGR-1 patrolling its border near North Korea. The SGR-1 uses thermal imagery and light sensors to detect any unfriendly activities. Armed with machine guns, the Korean robots are controlled by humans but are reputed to be capable of making kill decisions without additional input.
"The concern that exercises me most is that people like the U.S. government keep talking about gaining a military edge," Prof. Sharkey cautioned.
"So the talk is of using large numbers – swarms – of robots."
Outside of an official U.N. ban on killer robots, countries may opt for a humanitarian accord under international laws presided over by the Hague World Court or Geneva Convention.