Distributed and Networked Autonomy—Visualizing the Legal Problems Caused by Military Networks

Description

This article explores some of the anthropocentric biases in the debate on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), biases that lie in the misconception that robots are individualized, embodied and weaponized systems that in essence replace human soldiers. Instead, the article suggests we should think of autonomy as distributed between different functions, components, and systems within a network. The interaction between different machines and certain human beings in the network eventually influences the end behaviour of both machines and humans on the battlefield. It matters that we shift from LAWS, as they tend to be envisaged presently in discussions at the UN Connvention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), to networks because the current perspective obscures relevant decision-making systems within military networks that are already setting the conditions for operations on the battlefield. If we maintain this trajectory, we might not be able to adapt International Humanitarian Law principles to the realities of the 21st century’s armed conflicts.

Period	15 Nov 2018
Event title	Artificial Intelligence in Warfare. Beyond Killer Robots - Networked Artificial Intelligence Disrupting the Battlefield.
Event type	Conference
Location	Copenhagen, DenmarkShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International