Ethics - The Key to Operationalizing AI-Enabled Autonomous Weapons
Abstract
The so-called killer robots have arrived, and artificial intelligence-enabled autonomous weapons stand to be a prominent feature of future war. Against a backdrop of international competitor development of these systems overlaid against international and multinational corporate concern, the National Security Commission on AI's Final Report judges that these types of unmanned weapons can and should be used in ways consistent with international humanitarian law by applying the conditions of human-authorized use and proper design and testing. AI-enabled autonomy and its military applications carry with it the foundational risks in these technologies, and their use in unmanned weapons further challenges militaries seeking legal use within the frameworks of international humanitarian law and Just War Theory. Ethics therefore provides the superior conceptual vehicle to appoint and empower human authorizers and users and to qualitatively establish what constitutes "proper" design and testing. Each of the seven AI worker archetypes established by the DoD's Campaign for an AI Ready Force should apply role-relevant, AI-related ethics to fully realize the conditions established in the Final Report and retain and support the humanity necessary to control the monopoly on violence. The need for ethics education individually and collectively permeates each of the archetypes, and the DoD must recognize the value of public/private partnerships to fully account for these conditions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 29, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1181102
Entities
People
- Ross M. Coffey
Organizations
- Naval War College