EXPERTS ASSEMBLE FOR MEETING ON ’KILLER ROBOTS’

GENEVA Experts from scores of countries are meeting to discuss ways to define and deal with “killer robots” — futuristic weapons systems that could conduct war without human intervention.

The weeklong gathering that opened Monday is the second at UN offices in Geneva this year to focus on such lethal autonomous weapons systems and to explore possibilities for regulating them, among other issues.

In theory, fully autonomous, computer-controlled weapons don’t exist yet, UN officials say. The United States has argued that it’s premature to establish a definition of such systems, much less regulate them.

As the meeting got underway, Amnesty International urged countries to work toward a ban.