Events

The Algorithmic Turn in Security and Warfare

6 – 7 January 2022

Online Conference
Hosted by the ERC-funded AutoNorms project and the Centre for War Studies (CWS)
University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Odense

Overview
Functional applications of artificial intelligence (AI) based upon machine learning algorithms are in the process of shaping a diverse spectrum of social, business, legal, and political fields. These developments can be succinctly captured via the notion of an “algorithmic turn”. “The Algorithmic Turn in Security and Warfare” conference brings together participants to discuss this framing in the context of diverse settings, including borders, surveillance, predictive policing, weaponised artificial intelligence, and military applications of AI (e.g., image recognition, computer vision). 

Organisation
The “Algorithmic Turn” conference will be hosted by the European Research Council funded project “AutoNorms: Weaponised Artificial Intelligence, Norms, and Order”. Launched in August 2020, AutoNorms is a 5-year project that brings together a research team under Dr Ingvild Bode’s leadership. It features research exploring how the development and application of autonomous weapon systems transform use-of-force norms. The AutoNorms project is in turn hosted by the Centre for War Studies (CWS) at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), an interdisciplinary centre for the major debates on the past, present, and future of war, and its impact on societies.

The Hacker Way: Moral Decision Logics with Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems

Keynote Lecture by Dr Elke Schwarz

6 January 2022
16:30 – 17:30 CET

‘The Algorithmic Turn in Security and Warfare’ – the integration of AI into military systems – has amplified an already heated debate in which proponents and opponents of lethal autonomous weapons clash over the legal, ethical, and practical upshots of this new technology. As ever with new technological developments, debates still lag behind accelerated efforts to replace human decision making with AI wherever possible in military operations. In my keynote address I argue, drawing on Norbert Wiener’s work, that such developments in military AI reflect a prioritisation of ‘know-how’ over ‘know-what’, which in turn jeopardises not only global security, but also the very integrity of human ethical reasoning. In particular, the address tracks present-day forays into full lethal autonomy in weapons systems, noting their deleterious impact on the ability of military personnel to take responsibility for acts of technologically mediated violence, whether intended or accidental. I will close by noting important linkages between the ‘know-how’ perspective and the private sector, arguing that the growing prevalence of such a perspective is likely to lessen the restraint on harm in warfare going forward, in particular by normalising ‘accidents’ as a necessary side-effect.

Dr Elke Schwarz is Associate Professor in Political Theory at Queen Mary University London. Her research focuses on the intersection of ethics of war and technology with an emphasis on unmanned and autonomous / intelligent military technologies and their impact on the politics of contemporary warfare. Over the last decade, she has been involved in a number of policy initiatives on drones, autonomous weapons systems and military Artificial Intelligence. She is the author of ‘Death Machines: The Ethics of Violent Technologies’, member of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control (ICRAC) and 2022/23 CAPAS Fellow at the University of Heidelberg.