Laws about Laws: Lethality, Autonomy and Sovereignty in a 21st Century Perspective

Asimov's three fundamental Rules of Robotics-that must be "built most deeply into a robot's positronic brain", or its artificial intelligence (AI)-state that 1) a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; 2) a robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and 3) a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws. This paper argues that the dismissal of Asimov's three laws by the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS)-convened by the UN Conference on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in Geneva from 25 to 29 March 2019-means that there is only a matter of time until advanced AI technologies empower a real version of Skynet, where autonomous lethality and autonomous offensive cyber operations become the new norms in combat environments. We take a critical look at the recent developments in AI (such as machine learning, deep learning and behavioral analytics) in the field of 'tactical cyber' and assess their impact on the quality of democracy in a quintuple helix ecosystem. The concept of cyber diplomacy emerges as a critical differentiator in a set of considerations, priorities and implications of AI-centric autonomous cyber weapons becoming the main way that we fight wars by 2040.