"Lethal autonomous weapons threaten to become the third revolution in warfare. Once developed, they will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend", the experts warn in an open letter released Monday.

Ryan Gariepy, the founder of Clearpath Robotics and the first person to sign the letter said that unlike other potential manifestations of AI, which still remain in the realm of science fiction, autonomous weapons systems are on the cusp of development right now and have a very real potential to cause significant harm to innocent people along with global instability.

More than a dozen countries - including the United States, China, Israel, South Korea, Russia and Britain - are currently developing autonomous weapons systems, according to Human Rights Watch.