Legal Regulation of Research and Development of Autonomous Weapons Systems

The control of autonomous weapons systems (AWS) has been an emerging issue in international arms control in recent years. With the rapid development of AWS and the widespread militarization of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, there are an increasing number of potential risks that could eventually threaten all humankind. Despite AWS's advantages of military force enhancement, the legal and ethical risks, challenges, and implications for international security cannot be ignored. In the current international environment, strengthening legal regulation of the research and development (R&D) of AWS could be an effective way to mitigate the risks AWS poses. Despite the significance of the 11 Guiding Principles proposed by the 2019 Group of Governmental Experts (GGE), the problems of overly broad provisions and lack of enforceability are also recognized. This paper further analyzes the legal review mechanism and accountability mechanism for the R&D of AWS. By elaborating on these two regulatory mechanisms, critical issues and challenges in the R&D of AWS are identified, and relevant recommendations are made with a view to compliance by States with international humanitarian law (IHL) in their activities to the R&D of AWS.