Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 8, between lines 4 and 5, to insert the following: “ “automated means” means the use of any algorithm, recommender system, or other automated system which uses data processing, machine learning, or other artificial intelligence techniques to make decisions or suggest information to users;”.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is lovely to see him. This set of amendments addresses something that is very much an emerging concern in the realm of arms control, which is the dangers of the use of artificial intelligence, AI, in weapons systems and dual-use items. This is still an emerging area and a significant body of work is under way to understand how lethal autonomous weapons system operate within an international humanitarian law framework. Currently, the UK House of Lords has a select committee on AI in weapons systems which is examining this issue. It is also undergoing examination at United Nations level in the context of the convention on prohibitions or restrictions on the use of certain conventional weapons, which may be deemed to be excessively injurous or have indiscriminate effects, and through the group of governmental experts as part of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, CCW.

Use of lethal autonomous weapons systems has been growing globally. The UN Office for Disarmament Affairs has offered the following description of newer forms of autonomous weapons systems:

Newer systems employing increasingly sophisticated technology include missile defense systems and sentry systems, which can autonomously detect and engage targets and issue warnings. Other examples include loitering munition (also known as suicide, kamikaze or exploding drone) which contain a built-in warhead (munition) and wait (loiter) around a predefined area until a target is located by an operator on the ground or by automated sensors onboard, and then attacks the target. These systems first emerged in the 1980s; however, their systems functionalities have since become increasingly sophisticated, allowing for, among other things, longer ranges, heavier payloads and the potential incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, has been unequivocally clear that lethal autonomous weapon systems are politically unacceptable and morally repugnant and has called for their prohibition under international law.In 2023, in A New Agenda for Peace, the UN Secretary General reiterated this call, recommending that by 2026 states agree a legally binding instrument to prohibit lethal autonomous weapon systems that function without human control or oversight.

International experts have also been raising the alarm. The UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, joined the UN Secretary General's call for a global prohibition on lethal autonomous weapon systems in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in 2023. In his testimony to the UK's House of Lord's select committee, Professor Toby Walsh, chief scientist at the new AI institute at the University of New South Wales stated: "Autonomous weapons systems decrease accountability and increase global insecurity" and that resistance to regulating in this space will increase global insecurity. From Amnesty International, Dr. Matt Mahmoudi has highlighted the human rights implications of the digital dehumanisation of people when subjected to autonomous weapons.

Amendment No. 1 inserts in the Bill a definition of "automated means" which is used in subsequent amendments. Amendment No. 8 inserts a new section 20 in the Bill, which would provide that "authorisation shall not be granted to a person or organisation to transit a dual-use item through or from the State where such an item utilises automated means to function or has the capacity to be used through or with automated means." Subsection 2 of the amendment provides that any person attempting to transit such items would be "guilty of an offence" and subsection 3 provides that subsection 1 applies to both "the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána."

Amendment No. 11 inserts a new section 28 into the Bill, which would provide that "authorisation shall not be granted to a person or organisation to transit a military item through or from the State where such an item utilises automated means to function or has the capacity to be used through or with automated means." Subsection 2 of the amendment provides that any person attempting to transit such items would be "guilty of an offence" and subsection 3 provides that subsection 1 applies to both "the Defence Forces and An Garda Síochána."

Amendment No. 14 would amend section 29(6) by including a new provision that the Minister shall not grant authorisation for "a military item or dual-use item which utilises automated means to function or has the capacity to be used through or with automated means."

We should be unequivocally clear that lethal autonomous weapons represent a huge danger to people's lives. The UN Secretary General has been clear that they are incompatible with human rights and should be banned. Ireland should not allow the export of such items or their transit through our State. I urge the Minister of State to accept these amendments.