Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, or LAWS, form only a minuscule part (if any) of the existing military capabilities of India. And a drastic expansion of such capabilities appears to be unlikely in the near future. For a country that is struggling just to keep its infantry equipped with the most basic weapons such as rifles, LAWS is luxury.
But that is not the case with countries such as the US, Germany or Russia. These countries favour LAWS. They have already deployed such systems and are in favour of putting more of these in action. At the first meeting of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems held recently to decide on the future of such systems, countries including Pakistan called for a ban on such devices.
But India stuck to the middle path in line with what the country has done on numerous occasions and with different issues in the past. This may, most likely, put India in a very unenviable seat.
At the meeting, organised under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and chaired by Amandeep Gill, permanent representative of India to the Conference on Disarmament, several ethical questions on the use of robotic systems were raised. Many weapons systems currently in use are dependent heavily on humans.
These are, therefore, also prone to error. Countries such as the US are not alien to situations wherein its own forces have unleashed lethal force against fellow units by mistake.
When robots are entrusted with decisions regarding the use of lethal force, there is the possibility of actions lacking emotional considerations. Forget emotions on warfields, robots may simply refuse to accept or recognise friendly forces. For instance, if fully automated weapons were to be deployed on the borders such as Pakistan-India, they may not be willing to discriminate between a family trying to flee unrest and militants trying to infiltrate to spread terror.
It would be an inhumane act, but robots wouldn’t know, and humans won’t be directly responsible. There is also the threat of such systems falling into the wrong hands. With completely automated systems, one human by taking a wrong decision can wreak havoc and destruction at the flick of a switch. Such situations are unwelcome.
It appears LAWS are set to be the new weapons of mass destruction and another arms race is at our doorsteps. Weapons are perhaps not the best place to employ artificial intelligence. With computer-based technology disrupting almost every sphere of life and being broken into almost every day, it would be naïve to believe that foolproof autonomous weapons systems can be built to fight for humans with a rationale behind each aggression.
It must be remembered that every new technology is immediately followed by hacks to break through their safety. India currently is betting big on imports to shore up its defence capabilities. Newer technology will cost more and only help rich nations drain developing countries of their resources in return for a false sense of safety.
Or in the alternative, for a country like India which is incapable of stopping continuous leakages from its Aadhaar data scheme, it will be merrily buying such expensive yet undependable weapons from private manufacturers flying the flag of ‘Make in India’.
Technologically advanced countries are only trying to distance themselves from the consequences of their aggression through LAWS. These are essential to ease their conscience of the burden of their actions. By siding with such nations in any way to allow them develop such technology further, other nations will only aid pogroms for which no human may be held responsible. India, by keeping quiet at the Convention on CCW, is probably not playing a smart game.