Research Themes
Technology
This research theme maps the design, development, and operation of weapons systems with automated and autonomous features over time. Entries are based on our qualitative data catalogues of different types of existing weapons systems as researched by the AutoNorms team.
Articles on technology
Consequences of Using AI-Based Decision-Making Support Systems for Affected Populations
The following essay builds on remarks delivered by Ingvild Bode as part of 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 on
Can Track II Dialogues be the New “Ping-Pong” Diplomacy to Thaw the Sino-US Relationship on Military AI?
China and the US find themselves increasingly enmeshed in a deteriorating relationship as the two countries contest for primacy across many fields. Both Beijing and Washington view technological leadership, especially an edge in artificial intelligence (AI), as vital to gaining an upper-hand in this intensified power contest. As the two
The New Fog of War: Algorithms, Computer Vision, and Weapon Systems
War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty. A sensitive and discriminating judgment is called for; a skilled intelligence to scent out the truth. — Carl von Clausewitz (1832) [1873] The
Shortening the Kill Chain with Artificial Intelligence
This post has been guest written by Jennifer Rooke. Jennifer’s author information has been included at the end of this post. In a speech at the Air Force Association’s annual Air, Space & Cyberspace Conference held on 20 September 2021, US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall stated (at
Drones in Afghanistan: Not a Technological “Silver Bullet”
[A shorter version of this piece was published in the German-language ct Magazin für Computertechnik in September 2021, Ingvild Bode & Tom Watts] The United States and its NATO partners have ignominiously withdrawn from Afghanistan. One of this war’s many legacies will be the use of remotely piloted aircraft – colloquially referred to as
“I Need Your Clothes, Your Boots and Your Terminator Tropes”: A Primer on the Terminator Franchise
“Listen, and understand. That Terminator is out there, it can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with, it doesn’t feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely will not stop…EVER, until you are dead!”, Kyle Reese. References to the Terminator are an ubiquitous feature of debates on Autonomous
AutoNorms
An international research project examining weaponised artificial intelligence, norms, and order
Research Themes
Recent Articles
A Question of Trust? New US Initiatives to Tackle the Human Control Problem
‘Responsible AI’ in the Military Domain: Implications for Regulation
