CRE and Martin Gilbert are hosting a talk on the subject of autonomous weapons from a different perspective this Friday for all those interested (note that the talk will be given in english but the QA afterwards is bilingual). The speaker, *Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer*, is the director of* Institute for Strategic Research* (IRSEM, French Ministry of Defense). It will be this *Friday March 2* at *3:00PM* in Claire-McNicoll *Z-345*.

ABSTRACT Autonomous weapon systems – known as “killer robots” in popular culture – are weapon systems that can select and attack targets without human involvement. While they do not yet exist, they are already being discussed before the UN, as some NGOs and states have begun demanding a preventive ban against such weapons. This presentation will expose the difficulty of defining them (the notion of autonomy, the typology of more or less autonomous weapons, the notion of “meaningful human control”), the diplomatic debate going on at the UN and the underlying moral debate (responding to deontologist and consequentialist objections to autonomous weapons). After such consideration, this presentation ultimately opposes a preventive ban and proposes, instead, a code of conduct.

BIO A Graduate of the Université de Montréal and McGill University, Dr Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer is the director of the Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM, French Ministry of Defense). Previously a member of the Policy Planning Staff (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), he was a member of the French delegation at the UN Meeting of Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Last article on the topic: “Autonomous Weapon Diplomacy: The Geneva Debates”, Ethics & International Affairs, Online Exclusive, 27 September 2016 ( https://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/2016/autonomous-weapon-diploma... )