Autonomous and Intelligent Systems in Defense Applications - a Human-Decision Making perspective across the Lifecycle

This post is long overdue but important. Especially if you are interested in the governance of Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAWS) - or other intelligent autonomous systems. They are being tested everyday as we speak! 

I was very honoured to work with a group of experts on this white paper under Ariel Conn. It was a unique methodology as the group worked backwards on the nine lifecycle stages and created scenarios where autonomy and thetechnology (largely dependent on AI) would need oversight. We approached it from a transdisciplinary perspective - human rights, legal, policy, engineering, TEVV, governance, ethics, national security, etc., and this was so interesting as it really highlighted the areas we know so little about in terms of governing LAWS. For example - what should be the role of human decision making when every second matters? What are the tradeoffs? While we may not have all the answers, we have put together a robust document that can serve as a tool kit to think of better oversight on these types of technologies. The document is easy to understand, even if you do not have a background in AI. It is clear that AI is different from other defense equipment validation processes outlined in TEVV and this is highlighted by the fact five of the nine stages are continuous ongoing activities. 

The publication "A Framework for Human Decision-Making through the Lifecycle of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems in Defense Applications." is available here: https://lnkd.in/gJK_BPSz 

Here are some of the amazing people I had the chance to work with on this project (thank you John C. Havens) - Ariel Conn Dr Ingvild Bode (Chair), Rachel Azafrani (co-Chair), Jack Shanahan, Sten Allik, David Barnes, PhD, Eileen Lach, Craig Lennon, Rain Liivoja, Lisa Titus, Alan Wagner, Dr Greg Adamson, Chad Bieber, Simon Chesterman, Di Cooke, Christian Ellis, Noah Ford, Charlie Ovink, Jonathan Parry, Giacomo Persi Paoli, Signe Redfield, Yvette Stevens, Wendell Wallach, and of course IEEE

The example scenario can be found as supplemental material here: https://lnkd.in/gXqV-mgE 

The original challenges document can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gQdxRejH