Ethics and the "Intelligentization" of Warfare: A Brief Survey of Progress and Problems of the Artificial Intelligence Superpowers

Abstract

Acknowledging the difficulties in defining artificial intelligence (AI), this paper critiques some popular misconceptions about AI and looks toward the scale and prioritization of actual military AI investments of China and the U.S. -the AI Superpowers- to consider ethical dilemmas associated with AI governing principles and capabilities. In 2017, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) promises to dominate AI by 2030 elicited a major bureaucratic response from the United States including several new Department of Defense (DoD) agencies and a flurry of policies. Among these the February 2020 proclamation of ethical principles for AI, followed by a May 2021 Memo on Implementing Responsible Artificial Intelligence (RAI), lay out five DoD AI Ethical Principles and name the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) as the responsible agent for transforming the Department through AI. The five DoD ethical principles are laudable but inadequate to the ethical challenges AI is already bringing. As competition toward developing AI intensifies, and certainly if AI is ever deployed in combat, sincere advocates for responsible AI will need more specific and stable guideposts than these principles and vague commitments to our values if they are to respond with sound ethical

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 06, 2022
Accession Number
AD1204778

Entities

People

  • Jason E Duke

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Autonomy
  • C4I
  • Cyber
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Artificial Intelligence Software
  • Autonomous Navigation
  • Autonomous Weapons
  • Cognitive Systems Engineering
  • Drone Swarms
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Military Applications
  • National Security
  • Naval Warfare
  • Navy
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychological Phenomena And Processes
  • Psychology
  • Social Media
  • Surveillance
  • United States
  • Unmanned Systems
  • Unmanned Vehicles
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Geospatial Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence Analytics
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - DoD AI Strategy