Informal discussions of the GGE on autonomous weapons consider human control, ethics, and accountability
On 1 and 3 June, the Chair of the 2022 Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on autonomous weapon systems (AWS) convened the second of three informal, virtual intersessional discussions. This round of informal discussions focused on the topics of human control, human judgement, and human-machine interaction (HMI); ethical considerations; and responsibility and accountability. While there continues to be emerging consensus around many aspects of these topics, states still diverge over whether applicable rules and standards should be legally binding or voluntary. They also diverge over whether ethics should simply inform a legal analysis, or need to be taken into account in their own right given the extreme risks posed by these weapons to human dignity and rights.