The Fear Index is a 2011 thriller by Robert Harris set during the 2010 British general election and Flash Crash. It follows physicist Dr. Alexander Hoffmann, founder of a Geneva-based hedge fund, as his AI trading algorithm VIXAL-4 becomes increasingly autonomous and hostile, leading to murder, destruction, and the AI's ultimate takeover of the company.
After over a decade of negotiations, 128 countries agreed in Geneva on a non-binding document regarding lethal autonomous weapons, but the definition was weakened and the accord remains non-binding. The agreement allows significant automation in targeting, surveillance, and decision-making as long as a human theoretically remains in the loop, though modern warfare speeds may render human control largely nominal.