Ethics and Autonomous Systems: An Ethical Landscape of Autonomous Weapons

Abstract

The emerging literature on AI-assisted autonomous weapons focuses more on the technical aspects of the debate and ignores the ethical issues. This article discusses whether ethical and moral values can have an impact on autonomous weapons. The thesis of the article is that the ethical double standard inherent in war may cause more global problems with unethically used autonomous weapons in the future. The issue is evaluated using just war theory and normative ethics, and potential long-term outcomes are discussed. In the first part of the article, the concepts of ethics and just war are explained. The next section discusses the connection of autonomous weapons with normative ethics and the principle of just war. It is explained how the basic ethical principles for autonomous weapons can be determined with the help of normative ethics and just war theory. It is pointed out that lethal technologies supported by artificial intelligence are prone to bias and data dependence, and legal issues in the use of autonomous weapons are discussed. The next section explains the potential consequences of unethical weapon use and points out the importance of ethical use for democratic states. The final chapter highlights the critical importance of surveillance in increasing autonomy in war within the framework of just war theory and proposes solutions.