How Practices Make Norms: Key Analytical Take-Aways from the ERC AutoNorms Project
The military adoption of AI technologies and avenues toward their potential governance have gained significant salience throughout the early 2020s. Initially, the focus of the global discussion was exclusively on autonomous weapon systems (AWS) that “select and engage to one or more targets without human intervention”. Over time, states and other stakeholders involved in the […]
AutoPractices at the UN Informal Exchanges on AI in the Military Domain
Ingvild Bode and Anna Nadibaidze represented the AutoPractices project at the Informal Exchanges on Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain and its Implications for International Peace and Security. The exchanges were held from 15 to 17 June 2026 in Geneva and organised by the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). Credit: Anna Nadibaidze Statement during […]
Machine Guardians, Human Monsters, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Take the Terminator Franchise Seriously
The core aim of the AutoNorms project has been to develop a new theoretical approach for studying the relationship between practices of designing and using autonomous weapon systems (AWS), international norms, and the global governance of emerging technologies. In addition to my contributions to cataloguing the practices of human-machine interaction associated with the global development […]
Three Takeaways from the US Military-Anthropic Dispute
By Anna Nadibaidze and Robin Vanderborght The public dispute that erupted recently between the US Department of War (formerly Department of Defense) and the technology company Anthropic has captured the attention of global media and experts. Anthropic has developed the popular large-language model (LLM) Claude, which is not only used by private consumers worldwide, but […]
AutoPractices at the UN GGE on LAWS in March 2026
The AutoNorms team regularly participates in meetings of the United Nations Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems. The GGE meetings take place in Geneva and bring together delegations of state parties to the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), observer states, as well as […]
Sustaining Human Agency in the Military Domain: The AutoPractices Toolkit at REAIM 2026
By Alexander Hedegaard On 4-5 February 2026, the third edition of the Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) Summit was held in A Coruña, Spain. The event was organised by the Spanish Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence, together with the A Coruña City Council. The third edition followed upon two summits held in […]
What Can the Public Learn About AI Weapons by Playing Videogames?
By Paolo Franco and Guangyu Qiao-Franco Military-themed videogames are not only popular among consumers, but they also generate considerable commercial interest. The Call of Duty series, for example, is one of the best-selling videogame franchises of all time, having sold 425 million units and earning $30 billion in revenue since its debut in 2003. These […]
AI in Military Decision Support Systems: A Review of Developments and Debates
Download the report here By Anna Nadibaidze, Ingvild Bode, and Qiaochu Zhang A new report published by the Center for War Studies at the University of Southern Denmark reviews developments and debates related to AI-based decision support systems (AI DSS) in military decision-making on the use of force. Written by Anna Nadibaidze, Ingvild Bode, and […]
Navigating the Complexities of Exercising Human Agency in Human-Machine Interaction Across the AI Lifecycle
This blog is based on the breakout session titled “Responsible Human-Machine Teaming Across the AI Lifecycle: An Interactive Scenario”, co-organised by the AutoNorms project and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL) at the Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) Summit 2024 in Seoul, South Korea. You can watch the breakout session here. […]
“Mission Impossible”? Talking Popular Culture at the REAIM 2024 Summit
The simultaneous release of the films Barbie and Oppenheimer on 21 July 2023 was a cultural phenomenon. “Barbenheimer”—as this event was popularly called—captured global attention. It also invited reflection on how the public comes to think about the politics of nuclear weapons and what role pop culture plays in this process. Released a week prior […]