Comment by Frank Sauer

The point of a preemptive treaty is to prevent future harm and with all the dangers and concerns associated with fully autonomous weapons, it would be irresponsible to take a “wait and see” approach and only try to deal with the issue after the harm has already occurred. Once developed, they will be irreversible; it will not be possible to put the genie back in the bottle as the weapons spread rapidly around the world. The notion of a preemptive treaty has been done before. The best example is the 1995 CCW protocol that bans blinding laser weapons. After initial opposition from the U.S. and others, states came to agree the weapons would pose unacceptable dangers to soldiers and civilians. The weapons were seen as counter to the dictates of public conscience and nations came to recognize their militaries would be better off if no one had the weapons than if everyone had them. These same rationales apply to fully autonomous weapons. A specific treaty banning a weapon is also the best way to stigmatize the weapon. Experience has shown that stigmatization has a powerful effect even on those who have not yet formally joined the treaty, inducing them to comply with the key provisions, lest they risk international condemnation. A regulatory approach restricting use to certain locations or to specific purposes would be prone to longer-term failure as countries would likely be tempted to use them in other, possibly inappropriate, ways during the heat of battle or in dire circumstances. Once legitimized, the weapons would no doubt be mass produced and proliferate worldwide; only a preemptive international treaty will prevent that. AI Verified source (2016)