Events
Upcoming events
ISA convention
15-18 March 2023
Ingvild Bode, Hendrik Huelss, Guangyu Qiao-Franco and Anna Nadibaidze will present AutoNorms’ research at the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention in Montreal, Canada.
REAIM 2023 Summit
15-16 February 2023
Realities of Algorithmic Warfare
AutoNorms is co-hosting a session at the REAIM World Summit in the Hague on 15 February 2023, 11am-12:30pm. REAIM stands for Responsible Use of AI in the Military domain. This summit is organised by the Government of the Netherlands and will bring together academics, policymakers, military strategists, and corporations from across the world to discuss the opportunities and threats of integrating AI and machine learning into contemporary warfare.
Together with its partners from the Intimacies of Remote Warfare programme at Utrecht University, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, Antwerp University, the War Studies Research Centre of the Netherlands Defence Academy, and Leiden University, the AutoNorms team will host the session “Realities of Algorithmic Warfare“.
Concrete take-aways include a deeper understanding of how and where (semi) autonomous weapon systems are being experimented with and deployed today as well as how they are changing the character of warfare. The session also explores political control and legal regulation possibilities to ensure responsible deployment and use of military AI.
Find the REAIM summit programme here. Registration is free but mandatory.
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Past events
Policy and AI workshop
12-13 January 2023
Ingvild Bode participated in the workshop “Putting Policy and AI into Critical Dialogue“, held at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution. The event, co-hosted by ART-AI and the Department of Political Science at the University of Bergen, brought together 25 international scholars working on AI technologies and public policy. Bode presented AutoNorms’ research on AI geopolitics in international relations, co-authored with Guangyu Qiao-Franco. This research is due to be published in the Handbook on Public Policy and AI, edited by Regine Paul, Emma Carmel, and Jennifer Cobbe.
Conference at Forsvarsakademiet
12 January 2023
Anna Nadibaidze presented on Russia’s prospects in technological sovereignty and AI development at the conference “Perspectives on Russia: Present and Future Challenges and Opportunities”, organised by the Royal Danish Defence College in Copenhagen.
Participation in podcast
5 January 2023
Ingvild Bode spoke with Nikolaus Forgó as part of the Ars Boni podcast, organised by the Department of Innovation and Digitalisation in Law at the University of Vienna’s Law School. The podcast episode, entitled “Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Weapons in War”, is available to watch and to listen.
Podcast
11 December 2022
Ingvild Bode was a guest on the podcast “On AiR: IR in the Age of AI”, hosted by Medlir Mema and Christopher Lamont. The discussion touched upon autonomy in weapon systems, loitering munitions, as well as regulation of autonomous weapons. The episode is available here.
Conference on AI international cooperation
9-10 December 2022
Guangyu Qiao-Franco spoke at the AI and Regional Security in Asia thematic session of the Third International Artificial Intelligence Cooperation and Governance Forum, hosted by Tsinghua University and organised by the Institute for AI International Governance of Tsinghua University.
Conference on autonomy in the digital age
20-22 November 2022
Ingvild Bode presented her article “Negotiating Normativity: Practices, Technology, and Loitering Munitions” at the conference Autonomy in the Digital Age: Rethinking Relationships between Humans, Technology and Society, held at the University of Bonn, Germany, and online.
Roundtable in French
11 November 2022
Anna Nadibaidze took part in the roundtable « Drones et nouvelles technologies militaires : quels enseignements tirés de la guerre russo-ukrainienne ? » (Drones and New Military Technologies: What Lessons Learned from the Russo-Ukrainian War?”). The roundtable was organised by the Réseau d’analyse stratégique (RAS) and Le Rubicon. Other speakers included Dr. Ulrike Franke, Dr. Dominika Kunertova and Colonel David Pappalardo. The debate was moderated by Dr. Chantal Lavallée. Watch the recording here.
Expert workshop
8 November 2022
Ingvild Bode was invited to speak at the expert workshop “AI and Related Technologies in Military Decision-Making on the Use of Force” organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) & Geneva Academy Joint Initiative on the Digitalization of Armed Conflict. Read her remarks here.
DPSA conference
27-28 October 2022
At the Danish Political Science Association Annual Meeting, held in Nyborg, Denmark, Ingvild Bode presented her article “Visuals as Sources of Norms: Emergent Normativity in the Debate about Weaponised Artificial Intelligence”.
Guest speaker: Denise Garcia
7-10 October 2022
The AutoNorms team hosted Professor Denise Garcia from Northeastern University, Boston, at the Center for War Studies, SDU. Professor Garcia conducted a masterclass about research dissemination and policy implications at SDU’s Department of Political Science. She also delivered the CWS annual lecture, entitled “Common Good Governance in the Age of Military Artificial Intelligence”.
Denise Garcia, a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of the University of Geneva, is a professor at Northeastern University in Boston and a founding faculty member of the Institute for Experiential Robotics. She is formerly a member of the International Panel for the Regulation of Autonomous Weapons (2017-2022), currently of the Research Board of the Toda Peace Institute (Tokyo) and the Institute for Economics and Peace (Sydney), Vice-chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, and of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. She was the Nobel Peace Institute Fellow in Oslo in 2017. A multiple teaching award-winner, her recent publications appeared in Nature, Foreign Affairs, and other top journals.
Future of War conference
5-7 October 2022
At the Future of War Conference held in Amsterdam, Guangyu Qiao-Franco presented her paper “Insurmountable Enemies or Easy Targets? Military-Themed Videogame ‘Translations’ of Weaponized Artificial Intelligence”, co-authored with Paolo Franco. The Future of War Conference is a joint initiative of the War Studies Research Centre (WSRC) of the Netherlands Defence Academy (NLDA) and the University of Oxford’s Changing Character of War (CCW) Centre.
APSA conference
15-18 September 2022
Anna Nadibaidze participated at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting in Montreal, Canada, presenting her paper “Technology in the Quest for Status: The Russian Leadership’s Artificial Intelligence Narrative”.
EISA conference
1-4 September 2022
Ingvild Bode and Guangyu Qiao-Franco presented their research at the European International Studies Association (EISA) 15th Pan-European Conference on International Relations in Athens, Greece. Ingvild Bode presented her paper “Silently Negotiating Normativity: Practice, Technology, and Loitering Munitions”. Guangyu Qiao-Franco presented her paper “Theorising the Role of Crisis in International Practice Theory: An Analysis of Crisis Management in Chinese Arms Control Diplomacy”.
Participant observation at the UN GGE on LAWS
25-29 July 2022
Ingvild Bode, Hendrik Huelss and Guangyu Qiao-Franco observed the second session of the GGE on LAWS debate in Geneva. Ingvild Bode delivered a verbal statement on behalf of AutoNorms, which is available here.
ASAA conference
5-8 July 2022
At the “24th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia 2022”, Guangyu Qiao-Franco presented her paper on Chinese AI ethics, leveraging the theoretical lens of communities of practice (CoP). In this paper she focuses on the reconfiguration of AI policymaking CoP over time, which features varied roles for the government, academia, and the private sector.
EISS conference
30 June – 1 July 2022
Anna Nadibaidze presented her article “Technology in the Quest for Status: The Russian Leadership’s Artificial Intelligence Narratives” at the 5th Annual Conference of the European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS) held in Berlin, Germany.
Politicologenetmaal conference
16-17 June 2022
Guangyu Qiao-Franco took part in the 2022 edition of the Politicologenetmaal (Annual Political Science Workshops of the Low Countries) held at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She presented the article “AI Geopolitics and International Relations: A Divided World Behind the Contested Conceptions of Human Control”, co-authored with Ingvild Bode.
BISA conference
15-17 June 2022
Ingvild Bode, Hendrik Huelss, and Anna Nadibaidze participated in the British International Studies Association (BISA) 2022 conference in Newcastle, the UK. To learn more about their presentations and contributions, see the conference programme here.
The Algorithmic Turn in Security and Warfare workshop
30 May 2022
On 30 May 2022, the AutoNorms project team organised the “Algorithmic Turn in Security and Warfare” workshop at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense.
The workshop brough together a community of scholars from a range of different institutions and disciplines. The aim was to discuss some of the major implications of weaponised artificial intelligence (AI) for international relations and warfare.
Topics discussed included: socio-technical imaginaries of human control in autonomous weapons systems, the implications of algorithmically supported decision-making for international humanitarian law, innovation and experimentation in the Dutch armed forces, gendered approaches to studying weaponised AI, as well as the representations of AI in popular culture franchises such as The Terminator.
The workshop marked an important step in the preparations for a interdisciplinary special issue on the topic of algorithms in security and warfare which will be published with the journal Global Society in early 2024.
We thank all participants for their insightful contributions, thought-provoking papers, and engagement.
The AutoNorms team is also grateful to the Carlsberg Foundation, the European Research Council, and the Center for War Studies at SDU for their kind support with the organisation of this workshop.
BISA ISET conference
20-21 May 2022
Tom Watts and Anna Nadibaidze attended the conference of the BISA “International Studies and Emerging Technologies Working Group 2022” held at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin, Ireland.
Tom Watts presented his paper “‘The Future is Not Set: The Terminator, AI Narratives, and US Military Discourse on Autonomous Weapons Systems,” co-authored with Ingvild Bode.
Guangyu Qiao-Franco’s paper “Insurmountable Enemies or Easy Targets? Military-Themed Videogame ‘Translations’ of Weaponized Artificial Intelligence” was presented by her co-author, Paolo Franco. The article explores how popular culture in the context of videogames portray AI weaponisation in a paradoxical way that both hypes up and undermines its threats.
Anna Nadibaidze presented her ongoing research on “Technology as Status Anchor: How Russia Perceives Artificial Intelligence”.
Invited presentation on autonomous warfare
12 May 2022
Ingvild Bode was invited to deliver an online lecture on “Autonomous Warfare” at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). The presentation offered an overview of the development towards autonomous weapons systems (AWS) and explained why it matters to put this in the context of a longer-term trajectory of developing weapons systems with automated and autonomous features. Further, the presentation critically investigated the challenges posed by weaponising artificial intelligence (AI), in particular in relation to the extent that humans can remain in control of using force.
Visit from Amnesty International Secretary General
11 May 2022
During Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard’s visit to the University of Southern Denmark, Ingvild Bode presented AutoNorms’ research on weaponised artificial intelligence and autonomy in existing systems such air defence systems and loitering munitions.
Science Festival
25-26 April 2022
Anna Nadibaidze took part in the Book a Scientist programme as part of the Science Festival organised by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, with the lecture “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Warfare”.
Invited presentation
22 April 2022
Anna Nadibaidze spoke about Russian perspectives on military AI at the 21st Annual McCain Conference “The Ethics of Military Artificial Intelligence”. The conference was organised by the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the US Naval Academy.
ISA conference
28 March – 2 April 2022
Guangyu Qiao-Franco presented her analysis of norm building activities of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the field of international information security at the International Studies Association (ISA) Annual Convention 2022 (online). Her research builds on ‘communities of practice’ theories, analysing the strategies of SCO member states, such as China and Russia, in expanding the information security community through narrowing the conception of ‘others’.
Conference
10-11 March 2022
Guangyu Qiao-Franco participated in the conference “Law and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence in The Public Sector: From Principles to Practice and Policy” organised by the Asser Institute in The Hague, Netherlands. Her presentation addressed Chinese approaches to the ethical governance of AI. She outlined the evolution of Chinese policies on AI and examined the decision-making processes that drive the shift in China’s understandings of the ethical risks of AI.
AI and the Transformation of Warfare
3-4 March 2022
Guangyu Qiao-Franco and Anna Nadibaidze took part in the workshop “AI and the Transformation of Warfare: Perspectives from South Asia and Beyond“, organised by the Warring with Machines project at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and PRIO Global Fellow Kaushik Roy of Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.
Guangyu Qiao-Franco introduced her take on China’s policies on lethal autonomous weapons systems and their implications for global governance in this area. Anna Nadibaidze spoke about Russian perspectives of AI and the transformation of warfare.
Online conference
12 February 2022
Anna Nadibaidze took part in the British Student & Young Pugwash (SYP) Technology & Peace Conference. Her presentation touched upon the global debate on lethal autonomous weapons systems. Watch the recording here.
Podcast
9 February 2022
In a conversation with Aaron Stein on the Chain Reaction podcast, Anna Nadibaidze spoke about her report on Russian perceptions of military AI, automation, and autonomy. The report was published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
Listen to the podcast episode here.
The Algorithmic Turn in Security and Warfare
6-7 January 2022
On 6-7 January, AutoNorms and the Center for War Studies (CWS), with financial support from the Carlsberg Foundation, held the virtual conference “The Algorithmic Turn in Security and Warfare”. The conference brought together participants from different disciplines and institutions to discuss the issue of an ‘algorithmic turn’ in a variety of different security settings, including surveillance, predictive policing, drones, autonomous weapon systems (AWS), as well as policy debates surrounding these developments at the national, regional and international levels. Some of the papers presented at the conference will be published in a special issue (forthcoming).
Find a summary of the conference here.
The keynote lecture, “The Hacker Way: Moral Decision Logics with Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems” was delivered by Dr. Elke Schwarz and is available on the CWS YouTube channel.
Competition result
8 December 2021
Anna Nadibaidze was announced as one of the winners of the 2021 OSCE- IFSH Essay Competition on Conventional Arms Control and Confidence- and Security- Building Measures in Europe. She presented her essay, “Commitment to Control Weaponised Artificial Intelligence: A Step Forward for the OSCE and European Security”, at a meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation. Read more about the competition results here.
Webinar
25 November 2021
Ingvild Bode participated in an online panel discussion on the technical, ethical and political challenges posed by drone warfare and lethal autonomous weapon systems. The webinar was organised by British Pugwash and Student/Young Pugwash (SYP) UK’s Project on Ethical Science. Watch the recording here.
Podcast
10 November 2021
Ingvild Bode was interviewed by Paola Gaeta and Marta Bo from the LAWS & War Crimes Project in episode 8 of the project’s podcast. The episode is entitled “Can humans exercise meaningful control over lethal autonomous weapons?” and is available here.
Online lecture
8 November 2021
Ingvild Bode delivered a DILEMA lecture on the topic of “Which Practices Shape Norms? Retaining Human Control over the Use of Force”. The discussion was moderated by Klaudia Klonowska, PhD researcher at DILEMA. To watch a recording of the lecture, see the Asser Institute YouTube channel.
DPSA conference
28-29 October 2021
Ingvild Bode and Anna Nadibaidze participated in the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Danish Political Science Association (DPSA). Ingvild Bode presented her paper “Silently Negotiating Normativity: Community of Practice, Technology, and Loitering Munitions” and chaired the panel on “New Research in International Relations”. Anna Nadibaidze presented her draft article “Mapping the Russian Position in the Global Debate about Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems”.
Online conference
19 October 2021
Ingvild Bode presented her research at the “Critical Borders: Radical (Re)visions of AI” conference, jointly organised by the Centre for Gender Studies and the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence at the University of Cambridge. Her paper entitled “Beyond the Terminator: How imaginaries draw boundaries in the debate about weaponised Artificial Intelligence” was part of the” AI Fact and Fiction” panel. Watch the recording here (starting at 4:39:55).
Webinar
13 October 2021
Ingvild Bode participated in a webinar organised by the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) as part of their Deterrence and Emerging Technologies (DET) webinar series. The panel covered the theme “Situational Awareness, Command, and Control: The Impact of AI”. Find the recording here.
EISA conference
13-17 September 2021
Hendrik Huelss presented two conference papers on the evolution of computer vision and implications for warfare as well as on the problem of meaningful human control at the 14th Pan-European Conference of the European International Studies Association (EISA).
Guangyu Qiao-Franco also presented her research on cross-level analysis in practice theories at the EISA conference. Her research builds on an empirical study on China’s domestic and foreign policies on autonomous weapons, which is intended to complement international practice theory by providing an informative approach for conceptualising cases featuring divides between domestic and international practices.
SPS' 21 conference
8-10 September 2021
Ingvild Bode, Anna Nadibaidze, and Guangyu Qiao-Franco presented their research at the interdisciplinary Science Peace Security 21 conference.
Guangyu Qiao-Franco presented a two-level analysis (international and domestic levels) of China’s positions on autonomous weapons systems.
Anna Nadibaidze looked into the role of great power identity in Russia’s discourse on LAWS.
Ingvild Bode examined how existing weapons systems with autonomous features shape what counts as meaningful human control.
Participant observation at the UN GGE on LAWS
9-13 August 2021
Anna Nadibaidze represented AutoNorms at the first session of the UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on emerging technologies in the area of the Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), which took place in Geneva. During the informal part of the session, Anna presented AutoNorms’ research, with an emphasis on the importance of examining existing weapons with autonomous and automated features for determining the elements of meaningful human control. Read Anna’s statement to the GGE here.
BISA conference
21-23 June 2021
Ingvild Bode presented two conference papers on non-verbal practices and norms as well as on visual analysis at the British International Studies Association (BISA) annual conference.
Hendrik Huelss also presented a paper on changing visual regimes and warfare.
ACUNS conference
25 June 2021
Guangyu Qiao-Franco presented the research she conducted in cooperation with Ingvild Bode on China’s emerging understanding of what constitutes appropriate human control over the use of force at the 2021 annual meeting of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS). The presentation contained a detailed analysis of China’s international statements and a stocktaking of relevant practices within which opposing notions of permissible scope of human control were internalised by the Chinese leadership.
Invited presentation
2 June 2021
Ingvild Bode presented her research on how non-verbal practices shape norms in the context of weapons systems with automated and autonomous features as part of the research seminar organised by the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy, University of Hamburg.
ISA conference
8 April 2021
Ingvild Bode delivered a talk on “Non-verbal practices and the making of norms” at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), held online.
Invited presentation
4 May 2021
Ingvild Bode presented her research on how non-verbal practices shape norms in the context of weapons systems with automated and autonomous features as part of the Sandhurst Defence Forum at the Royal Military Academic Sandhurst.
Participation in a webinar
25 March 2021
Ingvild Bode participated in a webinar to launch the new report “Meaning-less Human Control”, written by Ingvild Bode and Tom Watts. The event featured a presentation of the report’s main findings, as well as comments by two experts: Maaike Verbruggen (Institute of European Studies, VUB) and Richard Moyes (Article 36), followed by Q&A. Peter Burt (Drone Wars UK) moderated the event.
Watch a recording of the event here.