Since 2021, the ICRC recommends that states adopt new, legally binding rules to regulate autonomous weapon systems to ensure that sufficient human control and judgement is retained in the use of force. It is the ICRC’s view that this will require prohibiting certain types of autonomous weapon systems and strictly regulating all others.

From a legal perspective, ICRC considers that the lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS) challenge the ability of persons who must apply the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL) during the planning, decision, and execution of attacks to comply with their obligations. Now, from an ethical perspective, it is the ICRC’s view that the process of functioning by using some LAWS risks substituting human decisions about life and death with sensor, software, and machine processes. This raises ethical concerns that are especially acute when autonomous weapon systems are used to target persons directly.