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Warfare in the Age of AI: A Critical Evaluation of Arkin’s Case for Ethical Autonomy in Unmanned Systems

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Artificial Intelligence Research (SACAIR 2023)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 1976))

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Abstract

The threat posed by Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) is among the most severe challenges facing humanity today. Climate change, geopolitical instability and economic recessions all form part of the current ‘permacrisis’. I would like to add ‘threats from AI weaponry’ to this list. This paper importantly explores in-depth the ethical issues and possible negative consequences of allowing the development and deployment of AI weaponry. In this paper, I demonstrate that the use of LAWS in warfare is unethical and that it violates not only human rights and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) but human dignity as well. I do this by first examining Roland C. Arkin’s article. I then explore the debate on LAWS from a consequentialist ethical perspective. I outline the arguments both in opposition and in support of the deployment of LAWS to determine the outcome of the moral calculus that much of the debate has been centred around. I then explore the principled arguments against the use of LAWS. These arguments focus on possible violations of human rights, IHL and human dignity. The final section offers a way forward in terms of how a ban on LAWS might be implemented and the role of governments, academics, and the public.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    International Humanitarian Law is the law which regulates the conduct of war and limits the effects of armed conflicts [9].

  2. 2.

    A balance of power refers to the idea that states try to maintain an unequal distribution of power to avoid dominance by one [1].

  3. 3.

    Proportionality here refers to one of the three principles of Jus in Bello that must be met for a military action to be considered legal. “A military action is proportional if the harms are proportionate to the military advantage” [16].

  4. 4.

    The burden of war refers to those most directly impacted by the negative consequences of war. Though human soldiers are usually the direct victims of military operations this may shift with the introduction of LAWS on the battlefield [19].

  5. 5.

    The arbitrary deprivation of life violates IHL the argument here is that the taking of life by an autonomous system would automatically violate this clause [28].

  6. 6.

    “Humans-in-the-loop are systems that select targets and deliver force with a human command, human-on-the-loop are systems that select targets and deliver force with oversight from a human operator and human-out-of-the-loop are systems that can select targets and deliver force without any human input or interaction” [8].

  7. 7.

    As is the case of rape, slavery, or genocide [13].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 012, Gauteng, South Africa

    Maxine Styber

  2. The Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research, Rondebosch, Cape Town, 7701, South Africa

    Maxine Styber

  3. Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, 001, Gauteng, South Africa

    Maxine Styber

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  1. Maxine Styber
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Correspondence to Maxine Styber .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

    Anban Pillay

  2. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

    Edgar Jembere

  3. University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa

    Aurona J. Gerber

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Styber, M. (2023). Warfare in the Age of AI: A Critical Evaluation of Arkin’s Case for Ethical Autonomy in Unmanned Systems. In: Pillay, A., Jembere, E., J. Gerber, A. (eds) Artificial Intelligence Research. SACAIR 2023. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 1976. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49002-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49002-6_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-49001-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-49002-6

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