Comment by Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs (Austria)

What greater attack on human rights and human dignity could there be than allowing an algorithm to make life‑or‑death decisions? Human rights and humanitarian international law are our compass; they must continue to focus on people, not on machines. Otherwise, we face digital anarchy. This is why Austria is one of the countries preventatively supporting a legally binding international prohibition on autonomous weapon systems without human control. […] With this conference, we want to create broad societal awareness of the issue. When it comes to autonomous weapon systems, Austria fully supports an international legal standard that would guarantee human control. Self‑regulation by the developers is not sufficient. We must establish guard rails to ensure that no red lines are crossed.