With growing digital dehumanisation, the Stop Killer Robots coalition works to ensure human control in the use of force. Our campaign calls for new international law on autonomy in weapons systems.
A global movement


Our lives are becoming increasingly automated, from smart houses and targeted advertising to ‘self-service’ passport control. Technologies like facial recognition, and many other forms of artificial intelligence have been ‘quietly’ introduced and are gradually becoming integrated into our everyday lives with both positive and negative implications for people around the world.

What does this have to do with killer robots?

At the most extreme end of the spectrum of increasing automation lie autonomous weapons or killer robots. Autonomy in technology needs regulation because governments and companies are developing weapons that automate the decision to use force.
Why should you care?


These technologies dehumanise people, they reduce us to stereotypes – data to be processed.

Meaningful human control should be central to our relationship with technology and the role it plays in our lives.

We need to value people, in all our complexities and humanity – stopping killer robots is therefore essential.

On 6 November 2025, the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution on autonomous weapons systems for the third year running, concerned by the “consequences and impact of autonomous weapon systems on international peace and security, including the risk of an emerging arms race, of exacerbating conflicts and humanitarian crises, miscalculations, lowering the threshold for and escalation of conflicts and proliferation, including to unauthorized recipients and non-State actors.”
The voting result on Resolution L.41 was 156 states in favour and 5 against, with 8 abstentions.
Tabled by Austria and a group of 30 co-sponsoring states,* the resolution draws attention to the “serious challenges and concerns that new and emerging technological applications in the military domain, including those related to artificial intelligence and autonomy in weapons systems, [raise] from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives” and stresses the “the importance of the role of humans in the use of force to ensure responsibility and accountability and for States to comply with international law.” It also notes “the calls by the [United Nations] Secretary-General to commence negotiations of a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems, in line with a two-tier approach of prohibitions and regulations” and adds reference to the Secretary-General’s remark that the work on autonomous weapons in the context of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) is ”moving in the right direction.”
Following informal consultations in May 2025 mandated by last year’s resolution and attended by 96 states, the 2025 resolution underlines that “a comprehensive and inclusive multilateral approach is required to address the full range of challenges and concerns posed by autonomous weapons systems, including consideration of legal, technological, ethical, humanitarian and security perspectives, in order to safeguard international peace and security.” Unfortunately, it stops short of mandating further informal consultations, and rather simply encourages states to “conduct further exchanges” without reference to the form or function of such exchanges.
Once again, it is extremely disappointing that this resolution does not reflect the clear desire of the majority of the international community to urgently launch negotiations on a legally binding instrument on autonomous weapons systems. As adopted, this year’s resolution is a modest approach which attempts to demonstrate complementarity and support for the current mandate of the Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons systems (GGE LAWS), without prejudging its outcome.