Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated by a remote-controlled, AI-powered machine gun as he was driven from Tehran to his weekend villa in Absard, raising concerns about autonomous weapons.

Fakhrizadeh, the head of Iran's nuclear programme, was being driven from Tehran to his weekend villa in Absard when he was killed, apparently by an autonomous machine gun set up in a truck.

The New York Times later published a report confirming that Fakhrizadeh was assassinated using a modified Belgian FN Mag machine gun incorporating robotics and various forms of artificial intelligence, including facial recognition. 

The weapon was reportedly capable of firing at Fakhrizadeh without hitting his wife, who was beside him. According to the Times, the attack was controlled by a Mossad team operating in a command centre outside Iran.

The first known autonomous assassination, the attack prompted politicians, activists and others In Iran and other countries to voice their fears about the nature and use of lethal autonomous weapons.

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