Autonomous weapons systems and international law : a study on human machine interactions in ethically and legally sensitive domains Jüngste Fortschritte in Robotik und KI machen es möglich Roboter auch mit ethisch und rechtlich sensiblen Aufgaben zu betrauen. Besonders umstritten ist der Einsatz so genannter autonomer Waffensysteme (AWS) die eigenständig Entscheidungen über Leben und Tod von ‚Zielpersonen‘ treffen. Damit berühren sie zentrale Grundlagen des humanitären Völkerrechts der internationalen Menschenrechte des internationalen Strafrechts sowie der staatlichen Verantwortung. Vor diesem Hintergrund untersucht das Buch die Legalität und die völkerrechtlichen Folgen des Einsatzes autonomer Waffensysteme. Es zeigt Wege für künftige internationale Regelungen auf und skizziert das Konzept einer ‚geteilten Verantwortung‘ zwischen menschlichen Entscheidungsträgern und intelligenten Systemen. Daniele Amoroso ist Professor für Völkerrecht an der Universität Cagliari und Mitglied des Internationalen Komitees für die Kontrolle von Roboterwaffen (ICRAC). Recent advances in robotics and AI have paved the way to robots autonomously performing a wide variety of tasks in ethically and legally sensitive domains. Among them a prominent place is occupied by Autonomous Weapons Systems (or AWS) whose legality under international law is currently at the center of a heated academic and diplomatic debate. The AWS debate provides a uniquely representative sample of the (potentially) disruptive impact of new technologies on norms and principles of international law in that it touches on key questions of international humanitarian law international human rights law international criminal law and State responsibility. Against this backdrop this book’s primary aim is to explore the international legal implications of autonomy in weapons systems by inquiring what existing international law has to say in this respect to what extent the persisting validity of its principles and categories is challenged and what could be a way forward for future international regulation on the matter. From a broader perspective the research carried out on the issue of the legality of AWS under international law aspires to offer some more general insights on the normative aspects of the shared control relationship between human decision makers and artificial agents. Daniele Amoroso is Professor of International Law at the Law Department of the University of Cagliari and member of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) contrattualistica internazionale” presso il Ministero del Commercio con l’Estero (ora Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico – Commercio Internazionale).