SafeGround’s Pacific team have been exploring instances of artificial intelligence (AI) used for good across Pacific Island nations and found some interesting and downright amazing stuff! FishFace - Facial Recognition In 2016-17 the Nature Conservancy, along with fishermen in Palau such as Kalei Luii from the Division of Oceanic Fisheries...
An arms race with lethal autonomous weapons is on. Lethal autonomous weapons, also known as Killer Robots, are a threat that the international community must address now. SafeGround is looking at how these emerging weapons may affect the Pacific Island nations. The history of nuclear weapon testing and the...
SafeGround is exploring the barriers, challenges and incentives to Pacific nations joining the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
SafeGround has been exploring the barriers, challenges and incentives to Pacific nations joining the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. AS part of this effort we co-hosted a side event at the 2RC of the Convention on Cluster Munitions with the New Zealand Permanent Mission in Geneva in September 2021....
Australia’s lacking and concerning position on autonomous weapons needs to be urgently reviewed ahead of the Sixth Review Conference of the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), scheduled from 13-17 December in Geneva. Ahead of this critical Review Conference, the specialised diplomatic talks relating to the issue of...
In 2021, we need urgent action to ensure meaningful human control over the deployment of lethal force, specifically in the selecting of targets (humans) and decision as to whether or not to attack. A clear, legal standard is needed which will prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in weapons which autonomously select and fire,...
On 1 July Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Australia’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update which he described as a response to a “poorer, more dangerous world”. The Defence Strategic Update outlined expenditure for increased defence capabilities totalling $270 billion over the next 10 years. The aggressive strategy centres around ‘shaping...
Book cover of SafeGround's "In Search of Safe Ground - ERW in the Pacific". In 2014 SafeGround started researching the Pacific WW2 Explosive Legacy. Since then team members have done extensive desk and field research. Please see the In Search of Safe Ground - ERW in the Pacific. This book was released at the...
While the idea of ‘killer robots’ or lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) that may select and engage targets without meaningful human control may sound like science-fiction, the development of these LAWS are actually closer to reality than we may believe. Just last year, prominent figures such as Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and...