While the debates on military AI are ongoing and it is difficult to quantify the impact of the Project in terms of influencing the main stakeholders, the number of references to the Project’s outputs clearly shows that it has left a mark on the professional and academic community. In particular, the three main findings of the Project—namely that:
1. there is no technical or universally agreed-upon distinction between automated and autonomous military systems, and what is labeled as autonomous rather than (highly) automated is subjective and contextual;
2. AI-enabled weapon systems are often more compliant with IHL than the systems they have replaced; and
3. in war, human control over every step of the kill chain is either legally required to ensure accountability or ethically superior
—resonate more and more strongly in professional commentaries.
The major progress beyond the state of the art includes developing an interpretation of the legality of unintended engagements under IHL, pursuant to which attacks on civilians and infrastructure normally dedicated to civilian purposes, irrespective of the acting individuals’ intent or knowledge, are not in conformity with the principle of distinction, but constitute internationally wrongful acts only if the state cannot substantiate that a reasonable commander, based on the information available to them at the time, would designate the target as a military objective. This is of major importance for implementing international responsibility for military AI, given that autonomous weapons are designed to channel the intent of parties to the conflict. Understanding that it is the intent of the Commander, and not the outcome produced by the AI-enabled system, that is crucial for the determination of whether a given attack was legal or not, will contribute to the debate on the legality of military AI.
The impact of the project is likely to continue, as in early 2024, the Researcher was invited to join The Roundtable for AI Security and Ethics (RAISE), a collaborative, multi-year initiative led by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in partnership with Microsoft. RAISE is designed as the neutral, trusted, and independent platform for inclusive cross-regional and multisectoral engagement on artificial intelligence (AI) in security and defense, and as such, provides an optimal platform for further influencing the global debate on military AI.
