Despite a decade of focused diplomatic negotiations, consensus among states regarding meaningful constraints on the development and implementation of autonomous weapons systems for use in armed conflict remains elusive. A foundational impediment to achieving consensus is persistent discord regarding whether existing rules of international law involving responsibility for the conduct of hostilities are adequate. This article presents and develops the ‘Comparative Approaches to National Implementation of International Law’ model to categorize existing accountability practices among states and subsequently applies relevant provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to the context of autonomous weapons. In doing so, the article pursues enhanced clarity involving the applicability of existing rules related to accountability for autonomous weapons systems in support of ongoing regulatory endeavours.