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The summit brought together states, international organizations, the military, experts from academia, the private sector, and civil society to exchange views on how the use of AI in the military should strengthen international peace and security rather than increase risks stemming from irresponsible uses or system failures.
The WCC joined several other representatives of the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots who are united in their goal of calling for a global framework on the use of technology in weapons systems, and a prohibition on any weapon which operates without meaningful human control. Messaging from the interfaith group within the campaign was taken to the summit, expressing the group’s agreement on the sacredness of life, human dignity, moral responsibility, resistance to digital dehumanisation, and a faith-based obligation to preserve peace and humanity by placing firm ethical limits on technologies that inflict violence.
Summit discussions focussed on proposed concrete and practical steps, including approaches needed to fully understand the technological, military, ethical, legal, and social dimensions of military AI. Repeated concerns included the absence and need for a common technical language between all working on AI – particularly given the very rapid developments in these technologies. The urgent need for each stage of the lifecycle of the technologies to be examinable, traceable, and human responsibility attributable when things go wrong, was frequently raised.
Some concerning messages heard during the summit included one calling for taxes to be increased to ensure increased funds for defence and military spending.
There was broad agreement from all actors of the “red line” — their biggest concern was the possibility that autonomy would be built into nuclear weapons and they stressed that this must never happen.
“Other very welcome comments came from members of the military from several countries outlining their concerns about AI in weapons systems, effectively echoing the aims of the Campaign for Killer Robots in calling for a global regulatory framework to ensure that weapons are never operated without meaningful human control,” said Jennifer Philpot-Nissen, WCC programme executive for Human Rights and Disarmament.
3rd Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain Summit
"Campaign to Stop Killer Robots sends letter to Pope Leo XIV" (WCC feature story, 9 October 2025)
Learn more about the WCC work on arms control and disarmament
