As of 1 October 2026.
This subject area has two strands. The first concerns weapons: autonomous weapon systems, which once activated select and apply force to targets without further human intervention, are subject to existing international humanitarian law, including the review of new weapons under Art. 36 of Additional Protocol I. No treaty specifically regulates them. A Group of Governmental Experts under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) has discussed them since 2017, and the UN General Assembly has adopted annual resolutions since 2023. The second strand concerns general AI regulation: the Council of Europe Framework Convention, the EU AI Act and the Global Digital Compact address risks to human rights, democratic processes and public debate. Military and national defence uses are largely excluded from these instruments, so the two strands run in separate forums.