{"text":[[{"start":7.35,"text":"UK defence ministers are re-examining one of the central ethical constraints of modern warfare — that lethal weapons systems should always require humans to choose the targets."}],[{"start":17.4,"text":"Current UK military policy, published in 2022, said there would be “context-appropriate human involvement” in the selection and engagement of targets. Following rapid advances in drone warfare, some officials are pushing for human involvement to be optional. "}],[{"start":33.15,"text":"Al Carns, the armed forces minister, indicated that there might be exceptional circumstances in which machines made targeting decisions for themselves. "}],[{"start":43.55,"text":"“I always say there must be a human in the loop. But you must have the ability to take the human out of the loop when required, because our adversaries won’t care about having a human in the loop,” Carns told the FT. "}],[{"start":54.599999999999994,"text":"Speaking after a drone industry summit in Riga, Latvia, on Wednesday, he said some existing UK weapons already operated with significant autonomy, “where missile systems can fly forward and identify targets and strike them”."}],[{"start":68.35,"text":"His remarks reflect a growing debate inside Nato over whether western militaries must relax longstanding ethical constraints to compete with adversaries deploying increasingly autonomous drone and missile systems."}],[{"start":81.39999999999999,"text":"Carns insisted his views were consistent with current UK government policy. “We have strict rules and regulations [on autonomous weapons], we’ll stick to them,” he said. "}],[{"start":92.05,"text":"A former Marine, Carns was appointed armed forces minister in 2024 and has been mentioned as a potential long-shot challenger to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in the Labour Party leadership battle expected later this summer."}],[{"start":105.5,"text":"Asked whether he had higher political ambitions, he said: “Everyone misconstrues ambitions. My job is to serve the country. That’s it. Whatever my role is, I’m happy to do it.”"}],[{"start":118.4,"text":"Britain’s doctrine on autonomous weapons, laid out in a Ministry of Defence policy document published in 2022 titled “Ambitious, Safe, Responsible”, does not rule out incorporating AI within weapon systems. But it adds “we are very clear that there must be context-appropriate human involvement in weapons which identify, select and attack targets”."}],[{"start":141.5,"text":"A government submission to the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs in 2024 states the UK does not possess fully autonomous weapon systems, “meaning weapons that operate without context-appropriate human involvement or outside of human responsibility and accountability, and has no intention of developing them. No state should develop or deploy such systems.” "}],[{"start":164,"text":"Carns is not alone among the British military establishment in wanting to reopen this debate. In a December lecture in London, a senior British military official warned that adversaries would be likely to use autonomous weapons in any conflict, adding that “machines are already hunting humans on the battlefield in Ukraine”. "}],[{"start":185.1,"text":"In February, the government launched a review of the regulatory system governing uncrewed and autonomous systems in defence, saying that it must be “updated to be fit for the current era of threat”."}],[{"start":196.65,"text":"International law experts say that removing humans from targeting decisions is not explicitly banned under a specific UK commitment. But it could “place significant pressure on existing legal frameworks governing responsibility, foreseeability and civilian protection more broadly”, said Jessica Dorsey, assistant professor of international law and co-director of the Realities of Algorithmic Warfare research platform at Utrecht University. "}],[{"start":222.8,"text":"The war in Iran has renewed debate about autonomy in warfare after US forces used AI in battlefield systems such as the Maven Smart System to help choose targets. "}],[{"start":233.8,"text":"Ukraine’s military uses autonomous battlefield drones such as the Saker Scout, made by Lviv-based Twist Robotics, which seeks targets using computer vision to locate and strike 47 preset categories of military equipment as well as infantry."}],[{"start":250.95000000000002,"text":"Russia is thought to use Lancet drones with advanced computer vision to strike Ukrainian targets autonomously, though the level of human involvement is unclear. "}],[{"start":261,"text":"Western officials said concerns about the use of autonomous systems had been amplified by an accidental strike by two Ukrainian drones against a Latvian oil facility on May 7. "}],[{"start":272.2,"text":"Ukraine’s government blamed Russian electronic interference. But western officials said one theory discussed by Latvian military was that the drones, which were aimed at a Russian oil facility, autonomously locked on to the Latvian facility by mistake, possibly after being confused by Russian jamming."}],[{"start":296.4,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780119144_2173.mp3"}