2015 autonomous-weapons open letter

The letter’s original hosting page identifies July 28, 2015 as its announcement at IJCAI. A July 29 report by Max Tegmark says Stuart Russell and Toby Walsh announced it at a Buenos Aires press conference, with help from the Future of Life Institute. The current letter page’s February 9, 2016 publication field describes a later webpage date; it does not replace the stated 2015 announcement.^[1][2]

The appeal

The signatories sought a ban on “offensive autonomous weapons beyond meaningful human control” (closing paragraph). Their stated concern was an arms race and proliferation. The letter distinguishes autonomous target selection and engagement from remotely piloted systems whose targeting decisions are made by people. These are its definitions and arguments, rather than verified forecasts or an account of a deployed incident.^[1]

Academic context

A later philosophical paper explicitly discusses this letter and develops Meaningful Human Control through tracking relevant reasons and tracing informed responsibility. That supplies an account of the appeal’s control criterion; it does not establish that the signatories endorsed every detail of the later theory.^[3]

The letter advocates a specific restriction on military use. It is distinct from the 2015 beneficial-AI open letter and does not establish a signatory’s position on every AI application or subsequent campaign. No current signature total is treated as the original announcement’s count.