More than 30 Christian leaders have signed an open letter to the Foreign Secretary calling for the UK to back international regulation of "killer robots", weapons that use artificial intelligence to target and destroy or kill.

The signatories include senior representatives from the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Baptist Union, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church, as well as the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The letter was organised by the Joint Public Issues Team.

What are the leaders asking for?

The leaders urge the government to support negotiations for legally binding rules on autonomous weapons systems, and then to show clear leadership in backing those controls. They want the UK to commit to doing everything within its power to open negotiations at a United Nations conference in Geneva on 16 to 20 November, which will decide whether formal treaty talks should begin.

"For all who believe in the inalienable dignity of the human person and the inestimable worth of human life, the delegation to computer code of decisions to injure or kill is an abhorrent prospect," the leaders wrote. "The international community must not let increasing global conflict prevent it from speaking out against systems that disregard the value of human life."

Why now?

The signatories say there has been an escalation of military AI usage in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran. That includes the missile strike that destroyed a school in Iran, killing 123 schoolgirls, which has been widely reported to have been targeted by AI. A UN report has also accused military AI use of contributing to last year's surge in children's deaths in conflict.

Polling commissioned by the Future of Life Institute found that nine in 10 Britons want the UK government to lead on global AI weapons rules. The intervention also follows Pope Leo XIV's call on 30 October for states meeting in Geneva to take concrete steps towards banning lethal autonomous weapons, saying some decisions must never be delegated to machines.

The UK government has not yet said whether it will support the launch of treaty negotiations at the Geneva meeting.

Sources: Religion Media Centre and Joint Public Issues Team.