More than 100 leading robotics experts are urging the United Nations to prevent the development of “killer robots”, which perform ‘weapons of terror that terrorists can use against innocent populations’.

According to the BBC, 116 Artificial Intelligence (AI) leaders, including Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, warned a “third revolution of welfare” in a recent letter to the United Nations.

The letter added: “Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend.

“These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways.

The technology leaders also warned: “We do not have long to act. Once this Pandora’s box is opened, it will be hard to close.”

More than 1,000 tech experts, scientists and researchers also wrote a letter warning about the dangers of autonomous weaponry in 2015.

Written by Leah Alger