Following talks last month at the United Nations concerning the development and use of autonomous weapon systems, the European Parliament has passed a resolution to ban “killer robots.”

The objective of such action, according to the EU parliament, has to do with preventing the development and use of automated weapons capable of killing without human assistance.

Discussions held last month on the topic failed to result in any action on the matter, with some member countries declaring that the advantages of autonomous weapon technology need to be investigated. Other members expressed concern that such limits would hinder scientific progress in artificial intelligence (AI).

Still, many members believe the matter to be one of security.

"I know this might look like a debate about some distant future or about science fiction. It's not," said Federica Mogherini, the EU chief of foreign and security policy during the debate at the European Parliament.

"Autonomous weapons systems must be banned internationally," said Bodil Valero, security policy spokeswoman for the EU Parliament's Greens/EFA Group.

"The power to decide over life and death should never be taken out of human hands and given to machines."

The resolution precedes the negotiations scheduled for November at the United Nations where it is expected that the matter will be discussed at greater length and with a hoped-for outcome in the form of an international ban.

"From artificially intelligent drones to automated guns that can choose their own targets, technological advances in weaponry are far outpacing international law," Rasha Abdul Rahim, a researcher on artificial intelligence, at Amnesty International, said back in August during the initial meetings.

"It's not too late to change course. A ban on fully autonomous weapons systems could prevent some truly dystopian scenarios, like a new high-tech arms race between world superpowers which would cause autonomous weapons to proliferate widely," he added.

At that time, a handful of countries, including the United States, Russia, South Korea and Israel expressed interest in exploring the possible “advantages” of autonomous weapons and subsequently opted out of the measure to ban the controversial technology.

To contact the author of this article, email mdonlon@globalspec.com