Israel Deploys Remote-Controlled Robotic Guns in West Bank

In Al-Aroub, residents say the machines fire without warning.

“It is very fast, even faster than the soldiers,” said Kamel Abu Hishesh, a 19-year-old student. He described almost nightly clashes where soldiers storm the camp as the automated gun fires tear gas up and down the hill.

Paul Scharre, vice president of the Washington think tank Center for a New American Security and a former U.S. Army sniper, said that without emotion and with better aim, automated systems can potentially reduce violence.

But he said the absence of international norms for “killer robots” is problematic.

Otherwise, he said, it’s just a matter of time before these automated systems are equipped to use deadly force.

Read the full story and more from the Associated Press.