Controlling the Autonomous Warrior: Institutional and Agent-Based Approaches to Future Air Power
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
Controlling the Autonomous Warrior : Institutional and Agent-Based Approaches to Future Air Power. / Schaub Jr., Gary.
In: Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2019, p. 184-202.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Controlling the Autonomous Warrior
T2 - Institutional and Agent-Based Approaches to Future Air Power
AU - Schaub Jr., Gary
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The challenges posed by weapons with autonomous functions are not a tabula rasa. The capabilities of both State principals and military agents to control and channel violence for political purposes have improved across the centuries as technology has increased the range and lethality of weapons as well as the scope of warfare. The institutional relations between principals and agents have been adapted to account for, and take advantage of, these developments. Air forces encompass one realm where distance, speed, and lethality have been subjected to substantial and effective control. Air forces are also where systems with autonomous functionality will likely drive the most visible adaptation to command and control arrangements. This process will spread across other domains as States pursue institution-centric and agent-centric strategies to secure meaningful human control over artificial agents as they become increasingly capable of replacing human agents in military (and other) functions. Agent-centric approaches that consider emergent behaviour as akin to human judgment and institutional approaches that improve the ability to understand, interrogate, monitor, and audit the decisions and behaviour of artificial agents can together drive improvements in meaningful human control over warfare, just as previous adaptations have.
AB - The challenges posed by weapons with autonomous functions are not a tabula rasa. The capabilities of both State principals and military agents to control and channel violence for political purposes have improved across the centuries as technology has increased the range and lethality of weapons as well as the scope of warfare. The institutional relations between principals and agents have been adapted to account for, and take advantage of, these developments. Air forces encompass one realm where distance, speed, and lethality have been subjected to substantial and effective control. Air forces are also where systems with autonomous functionality will likely drive the most visible adaptation to command and control arrangements. This process will spread across other domains as States pursue institution-centric and agent-centric strategies to secure meaningful human control over artificial agents as they become increasingly capable of replacing human agents in military (and other) functions. Agent-centric approaches that consider emergent behaviour as akin to human judgment and institutional approaches that improve the ability to understand, interrogate, monitor, and audit the decisions and behaviour of artificial agents can together drive improvements in meaningful human control over warfare, just as previous adaptations have.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - autonomous weapon systems
KW - air power
KW - principal-agent
KW - civil-military relations
KW - drones
KW - meaningful human control
KW - remote warfare
KW - delegation
KW - technology and war
KW - direct human control
KW - moral agency
KW - emergence
KW - artificial intelligence
U2 - 10.1163/18781527-01001007
DO - 10.1163/18781527-01001007
M3 - Journal article
VL - 10
SP - 184
EP - 202
JO - Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies
JF - Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies
SN - 1878-1373
IS - 1
ER -
ID: 246198939