Policy makers must prepare for 'killer robots,' King Hall alumna writes

Jessica “Zhanna” Malekos Smith ’16 published an article in Harvard’s Kennedy School Review about lethal autonomous weapons systems – so-called “killer robots.”

In August, the U.N. Groups of Governmental Experts will meet to discuss killer robots, Malekos Smith writes, and the need for policy related to them is immediate.

“As the U.S., the U.K., Russia, China, South Korea, and Israel begin developing fully autonomous weapons (FAW) systems, policymakers should be preparing for FAWs now, by establishing a legal framework of State-in-the-Loop responsibility,” Malekos Smith writes.

Jessica “Zhanna” Malekos Smith holds a J.D. from UC Davis School of Law and is an M.A. candidate with the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. She previously served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Prior to the military, Jessica was a postdoctoral fellow at the Belfer Center’s Cyber Security Project at the Harvard Kennedy School.