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Review: A Vision of a Future Where Machines Fight Wars

Sarah Scoles· 11 septembre 2026

In “Lethal Autonomy,” Frank Kendall, a former top defense department official, envisions a military future where vehicles and weapons operate largely on their own — including making some decisions to strike people or infrastructure. And in his view, conflict is coming to space, making it all more u…

Résumé

Book introduction

The article reviews the book Lethal Autonomy: The Legal, Moral, and Ethical Issues of Killer Robots by Ronald Arkin, a computer science professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Published in 2026, the book examines the rise of lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), often called killer robots.

These are machines programmed to select and engage targets without human intervention.

Arkin argues that while LAWS raise serious ethical concerns, they could potentially reduce civilian casualties in warfare by adhering strictly to programmed rules of engagement.

The book situates this debate within the broader context of autonomous systems, which are technologies capable of performing tasks independently, such as self-driving cars or drones.

The review highlights Arkin’s background in robotics and his long-standing work on military robotics, which lends credibility to his arguments about the future of warfare.

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