'Show moral leadership on AI weapons control' 

More than 30 leaders from churches and Christian organisations have signed an open letter to the Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband calling for the UK to back international regulation of autonomous weapons

The signatories include General Secretary Lynn Green alongside senior representatives from the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Scottish Episcopal Church, Methodist Church, United Reformed Church and the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rt Revd Dr Rowan Williams.

Later in November, nations face a decisive moment to establish legally binding rules on autonomous weapons systems. Countries could start negotiations on a treaty for autonomous weapons, but for these discussions to have the best chance of success, the UK must commit to doing everything within its power to open negotiations.

Ahead of this critical meeting, Christian leaders have expressed their concern about the algorithms being able to take a life. The leaders urged the Foreign Secretary to support the launch of negotiations, and then show clear leadership and back legally binding controls on autonomous weapons systems.

Recently released polling commissioned by the Future of Life Institute found that 9 in 10 Britons want the UK Government to lead on global AI weapons rules.

The intervention follows reports of a significant escalation of military AI usage in Ukraine, Gaza, and Iran. This includes the missile strike that destroyed a school in Iran, killing 123 schoolgirls, which is widely reported to have been targeted by AI. A UN report has accused military AI use of contributing to last year’s surge in children’s deaths in conflict.

The leaders wrote, “For all who believe in the inalienable dignity of the human person and the inestimable worth of human life, the delegation to computer code of decisions to injure or kill is an abhorrent prospect.”

And added, “The international community must not let increasing global conflict prevent it from speaking out against systems that disregard the value of human life.”

The full letter text and signatories can be found both here and on the Joint Public Issues Team website.

Public Issues Enabler Steve Tinning said: "As Christians, we believe that every human life has immeasurable worth. The prospect of allowing machines to make decisions about who lives and who dies should trouble us deeply. No algorithm can exercise moral judgement, recognise the God-given dignity of another person, or take responsibility for the consequences of its actions.

"We urgently need international safeguards that ensure human life is never reduced to a calculation, and that human responsibility remains at the heart of decisions about any use of lethal force."


Thumbnail image | Sergey Koznov | Unsplash