House of Lords studies AI in warfare

The Committee will hear from:

• Dr Kenneth Payne, Professor of strategy at King’s College London
• Dr Keith Dear, director of artificial intelligence at Fujitsu
• James Black, assistant director of defence and security at Rand Europe
• Courtney Bowman, director of privacy and civil liberties engineering at Palantir Technologies UK

“Possible question topics include: The impact of AI informed or powered weapons systems on warfare, including issues such as the speed of escalation, the number and nature of casualties, and their use by non-state actors. Safeguarding the use of AI in weapons systems both from potential outside interference and inherent problems and malfunctions. The role of the private sector, including civil and military sector companies, in driving the development of AI powered weapons systems and shaping norms around their development and deployment,” the Lords said.

Autonomous weapons systems have been defined as systems that can select and attack a target without human intervention.

These systems could revolutionise warfare, with some suggesting that they would be faster, more accurate and more resilient than existing weapons systems and could limit the casualties of war, according to the Lords. However, concerns have arisen about the ethics of these systems, how they can be used safely and reliably, whether they risk escalating wars more quickly, and their compliance with international humanitarian law.

The overall scope of the inquiry includes: The challenges, risks and benefits associated with autonomous weapons systems; the technical, legal and ethical safeguards that are necessary to ensure that they are used safely, reliably and accountably; and the sufficiency of current UK policy and the state of international policy-making on autonomous weapons systems.

The evidence session will be available to watch live at 10am 20 April, on demand on Parliamentlive.tv, or in person in Committee Room 3 at the Palace of Westminster. The Lords Artificial Intelligence in Weapons Systems Committee website is here.

Editors note: In Electronics Weekly’s experience, House of Lords reports tend to show a deep understanding of technical issues, and have been worth reading.

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