Balancing Power and Ethics: A Framework for Addressing Human Rights Concerns in Military AI
This addresses human rights risks in military AI for policymakers and developers, but it is incremental as it builds on existing ethical discussions without introducing a new technical solution.
The paper tackles the ethical and legal concerns of military AI, particularly autonomous weapons threatening human rights, by proposing a three-stage framework (Design, In Deployment, and During/After Use) to evaluate and address these issues, aiming to balance AI benefits with human rights protection.
AI has made significant strides recently, leading to various applications in both civilian and military sectors. The military sees AI as a solution for developing more effective and faster technologies. While AI offers benefits like improved operational efficiency and precision targeting, it also raises serious ethical and legal concerns, particularly regarding human rights violations. Autonomous weapons that make decisions without human input can threaten the right to life and violate international humanitarian law. To address these issues, we propose a three-stage framework (Design, In Deployment, and During/After Use) for evaluating human rights concerns in the design, deployment, and use of military AI. Each phase includes multiple components that address various concerns specific to that phase, ranging from bias and regulatory issues to violations of International Humanitarian Law. By this framework, we aim to balance the advantages of AI in military operations with the need to protect human rights.