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Published (non-binding, current)Non-binding · Resolution

Lethal autonomous weapons systems (A/RES/78/241)

Record UN-01 · A/RES/78/241

Issued by
UN General Assembly (on recommendation of the First Committee)
Jurisdiction
United Nations
Level · region
International · Global
Published / adopted
2023-12-22
Language
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish
Official identifier
A/RES/78/241

Summary

The first UNGA resolution on lethal autonomous weapons systems. It recognises the serious challenges and concerns these systems raise from humanitarian, legal, security, technological and ethical perspectives, and asks the Secretary-General for a report gathering the views of States and other stakeholders on how to address them.

Safety topics

national security & militaryhuman oversightinternational cooperation

Open question

title is unsupported and the checker gave no evidence-backed fix; date_published is unsupported and the checker gave no evidence-backed fix; status is unsupported and the checker gave no evidence-backed fix; official_identifier is unsupported and the checker gave no evidence-backed fix; summary clai Issue #99

The record shows its last checked values until a maintainer decides; the decision is recorded in its history.

Status notes

The follow-up resolution on lethal autonomous weapons systems of December 2024 is UN-06. Discussions on these systems continue in the Group of Governmental Experts on emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. In his 2023 New Agenda for Peace the Secretary-General recommended that States conclude, by 2026, a legally binding instrument to prohibit lethal autonomous weapon systems that function without human control or oversight and to regulate all other types of autonomous weapons systems.

Sources

Open the official source https://docs.un.org/en/A/RES/78/241

Local copy

Archived, needs review. The page has very little readable text (79 characters); it probably needs JavaScript. A source changed since the previous snapshot; both versions are kept. Last attempt 2026-10-17 13:37:44 UTC

Official source (third-party copy, not published) archive/UN-01/2026-10-11/official.html
Retrieved 2026-10-11 13:57:46 UTC
SHA-256 49605ffea6bc44685503f48c4b53a6d54d348495d825fe0ff7d4842f19ff9617

Warning: The page has very little readable text (79 characters); it probably needs JavaScript

Official source, rendered in a browser (third-party copy, not published) archive/UN-01/2026-10-11/official-rendered.html
Retrieved 2026-10-11 14:09:08 UTC
SHA-256 d6c1fd2975d8c6754dc52f1075a7d5513b8390bd8fabddf5e26604a2aad85c93

Warning: The page has very little readable text (79 characters); it probably needs JavaScript

Official source, printed to PDF by a browser (third-party copy, not published) archive/UN-01/2026-10-17/official-print.pdf
Retrieved 2026-10-17 13:38:39 UTC
SHA-256 9a39995f5fad7777d097f4c01cfbd9763eb1a95e8c870c17971c5bf48950a342

Verification

C
Not confirmed on an official page; the record rests on secondary sources. Check it before citing. checked 2026-10-17 · search-confirmed
CAUTION: no official source confirms the title, date and status; the record rests on secondary sources. PARTIAL. No stored file shows this resolution's title, date or text. The official_url (docs.un.org) is a JavaScript document viewer whose stored copies hold only the language menu; the resolution's PDF on documents.un.org is closed to automated downloads by robots.txt; the UN Digital Library returns a bot-check page; and the press.un.org meeting coverage of the First Committee (GA/DIS/3731) and of the plenary of 22 December 2023 (GA/12578), requested in this run, returned a JavaScript 'Client Challenge' page also in a browser. Stored in this run: UNODA's page on lethal autonomous weapon systems, which supports the notes on the Group of Governmental Experts and the New Agenda for Peace. Title, date, status, summary and the vote rest on version 1 and need the resolution's text. Version 1's 'Austria-led' and the Secretary-General's report 'A/79/88, symbol unverified' are not shown by any stored file and were removed from the notes.
Second check: Independent check by Claude Code (claude-sonnet-5-5), 2026-10-17: 2 field(s) supported.

History

  1. 2026-10-18related: [{"slug": "unga-79-62-lethal-autonomous-weapons", "id": "UN-06"}, {"slug": "poli → [{"slug": "unga-79-62-lethal-autonomous-weapons", "id": "UN-06"}, {"slug": "poli — two-way link added: INT-14 link(s) to UN-012026-10-18-fix-related-links · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  2. 2026-10-17verification.level: A → C — level computed from the evidence by tools/pipeline.py2026-10-17-recheck-international-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
  3. 2026-10-17notes: Austria-led. The Secretary-General's report was issued in 2024 (A/79/88, symbol → The follow-up resolution on lethal autonomous weapons systems of December 2024 i — 'Austria-led' and 'A/79/88, symbol unverified' removed (no stored file shows them; the second was a research remark); the CCW Group of Governmental Experts and the New Agenda for Peace recommendation now quoted from UNODA's page; the link to UN-06 added2026-10-17-recheck-international-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

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UNGA resolution 80/58 on AI in the military domain United Nations · Published (non-binding, current)

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Citation

UN General Assembly (on recommendation of the First Committee). Lethal autonomous weapons systems (A/RES/78/241) [A/RES/78/241]. 2023-12-22. https://docs.un.org/en/A/RES/78/241. Status: Published (non-binding, current); verified 2026-10-17 (level C). Local copy archive/UN-01/2026-10-11/official.html retrieved 2026-10-11 13:57:46 UTC, SHA-256 49605ffea6bc44685503f48c4b53a6d54d348495d825fe0ff7d4842f19ff9617. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record UN-01.

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