Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC on autonomous weapons systems published on 12 May 2021, in particular the statement that "in light of ethical considerations to safeguard humanity and to uphold International Humanitarian Law, rules for the protection of civilians and combatants hors de combat, the use of autonomous weapons systems to target human beings should be ruled out"; and what assessment they have made of systems that identify people as targets based on (1) biometrics, and (2) perceived (a) gender, (b) race, and (c) age.

As we embed our Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy frameworks we will continue working with external stakeholders (including the International Committee of the Red Cross and our independent AI Ethics Advisory Panel) to ensure our approach reflects best practice and complies with our obligations. Systems that are designed to identify people as targets based on only biometrics, and perceived gender, race, and age are very unlikely to comply with the requirements of International Humanitarian Law.