New York: The U.N. General Assembly has adopted its first-ever resolution on lethal autonomous weapons systems, or LAWS.

The resolution adopted Friday expressed worries over the impact that LAWS, which uses artificial intelligence to kill or injure enemies without human intervention, may have on global security. Countries that voted for the resolution hope to accelerate discussions toward regulating the technology.

The resolution was supported by 152 countries, including Japan and the United States, while Russia, India, Belarus, and Mali, all of which are actively looking to use AI for military purposes, voted against it. Eleven countries, such as China, North Korea, Israel, and Iran, abstained.

The resolution, submitted by Austria, affirmed that the U.N. Charter and international humanitarian law apply to LAWS. It urged U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to put together U.N. member states’ views on the technology and report them at the next General Assembly session.

LAWS and other weapons that use AI are expected to bring about a “third revolution” that will fundamentally change the ways wars are conducted, following the first two revolutions caused by gunpowder and nuclear weapons, respectively.

Guterres has called for the creation of a framework that will legally ban the technology by 2026.

JIJI Press