In a bid to alleviate fears over killer robots, the US Department of Defense has said that the final decision on whether armed robots can fire will always stay with humans.

The statement comes close on the heels of the launch of a new program called the Advanced Targeting and Lethality Automated System (ATLAS) by the US Army.

The program has actually turned out to be controversial for the US Army as it aims to develop “autonomous target acquisition technology, that will be integrated with fire control technology, aimed at providing ground combat vehicles with the capability to acquire, identify, and engage targets at least 3X faster than the current manual process.”

As the program intensifies the threat of lethal AI once again, scientists and ethicists are demanding outright ban on killer robots.

The Department is organising an industry day this week to update industry and academia with the progress so far.