The US has a moral imperative to explore and develop artificial intelligence (AI) weapons, according to a report released Wednesday.

The report by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) led by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, studied AI technologies in national security and defense.

"The hypothesis to be proven is that AI will improve target identification, which should improve and reduce the number of collateral damage and fratricide," NSCAI Vice-Chair Bob Work said in the report.

"It is a moral imperative to pursue this hypothesis because autonomous systems will not be indiscriminate unless designed that way," he added.

An example of AI weapons is Samsung's SGR-A1 system that can track and follow targets via a thermal camera, laser rangefinder and video recorder.

The US, the world’s largest military power, has so far avoided signing an AI treaty with other nations, despite more than 30 countries demanding such weapons should be banned. The UN holds annual meetings to discuss the ban./aa