Dozens of Christian leaders have signed an open letter calling on Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to support international regulation of autonomous weapons.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rt Rev Dr Rowan Williams is among 33 signatories, joined by senior figures of the Church of England, Church of Scotland, Scottish Episcopal Church, Baptist Union, Methodist Church and United Reformed Church.
The letter urges the UK to show "moral leadership" and lead calls for a legally binding treaty on AI use in the battlefield, holding concerns over civilian casualties and indiscriminate violence.
Ahead of an international summit on global rules of warfare, the Church denominations wants the UK to lead a global effort for managing the role of AI in warfare.
An excerpt of the letter reads: "Autonomous weapons technology is developing at extraordinary speed, while the international rules governing its use remain anchored in a pre-digital age.
"The UK has a proud history of showing leadership in international initiatives to protect human life, including prohibitions on landmines and cluster munitions.
"Reports of the use of autonomous weapons in current conflicts, from autonomous anti-personnel drones to airstrikes targeted by AI systems, have revealed the grave risk the technology poses and highlight the urgency of action.
"Machines, regardless of their level of intelligence, must never be trusted with moral judgements like the decision to take a life."
Other named signatories are Rt Rev Richard Jackson, Bishop of Hereford, Rev Lynn Green, General Secretary of Baptist Union of Great Britain and Rev Mark Slaney, President of the Methodist Conference.
Paul Cook, director of global evangelism and poverty movement Arise and Martin Tiller, co-chair of the Christian Campaign of Nuclear Disarmament, have also signed the letter.
At the Seventh CCW Review Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, later this month from 16-20 November, world leaders will debate whether the current Geneva Conventions, which are global protocols establishing the rules about which weapons can be used in war.
It's been reported that AI has been used in conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran. Bloomberg reported in September that an airstrike which killed 123 children in Minab, southern Iran, after a school was destroyed was targeted by AI.
The open letter continued calling back to Pope Leo's first encyclical, which urged for AI to be disarmed and for AI developer to work for the common good.
"Pope Leo’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas argued cogently that the development of AI in warfare must be subject to rigorous ethical constraints, to guarantee respect for human dignity and the sanctity of life, and to avoid a race to develop such arms," the statement argued.
In front of the United Nations Security Council in New York in September, Miliband called for international cooperation and regulation of Artificial Intelligence.
The former Labour leader said: "We are only going to be able to innovate and capture the extraordinary benefits of AI, if people have confidence that the right safeguards are in place.
"So together we must take whatever measures are necessary so that AI is secure, safe, and trustworthy, whilst still advancing its incredible potential to drive growth, cure disease, and transform people’s life chances."