Microsoft president Brad Smith calls for international convention to tackle 'unstoppable' rise of killer robots

US, Russia, China, Israel, and South Korea are all working on autonomous weapons systems

The rise of killer robots is now inevitable, and urgent global action is needed to protect humanity from the growing threats posed by such killing machines.

That's according to Microsoft president Brad Smith, who believes that governments need to agree a new 'digital Geneva Convention' governing the use of "lethal autonomous weapon systems" already being developed across the world.

"The safety of civilians is at risk today," Smith told The Telegraph in an interview. "We need more urgent action, and we need it in the form of a digital Geneva Convention," he added.

According to Smith, the development of autonomous weapons poses a number of ethical questions that governments need to consider as a matter of urgency.

The US, Russia, China, Israel, and South Korea are just some of the countries that are currently working to develop autonomous weapon systems that would be programmed to autonomously or semi-autonomously select/destroy targets, eventually replacing human soldiers on specific missions.

Such weapons, including military drones, would be capable of operating in the air, under water, or on land; and also equipped with lethal weapons, such as bombs, guns and missiles.

Smith suggested that such killer machines would eventually "spread…to many countries", which is why an international convention is needed to stop them from deciding "who to kill" during a combat.

In recent years, the technology to develop lethal autonomous weapons has faced a growing backlash.

Thousands of Google employees have signed a pledge not to develop artificial intelligence technology for use in weapons.

Last week, ex-Google engineer Laura Nolan said that that increasingly sophisticated killer AI robots could accidentally start a war and lead to mass atrocities.

Nolan resigned from Google last year after she was asked to work on Project Maven, which was aimed at improving drone technology for the US military.

Nolan subsequently joined the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and has briefed UN diplomats about the dangers of AI weaponry.

Meanwhile, the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots has now spread to more than 55 countries, and is being supported by about 100 non-governmental organisations.