Autonomous Weapon Systems

The development of “autonomous weapons systems” (AWS) has been the subject of controversial debates for years. In many arenas, such as politics, research, law and civil society, the social, geopolitical and ethical implications of this technology are being discussed. Often this is accompanied by calls for strict regulation – including calls for a complete ban.

Despite this, essential questions are still unresolved. On the one hand, it is disputed which systems are to be considered autonomous weapons at all. This often refers to weapons that are ‘only’ automatic or semi-autonomous. On the other hand, it is still unclear how and in which situations human control can be ensured – and how this is to be technically implemented at all.

This indeterminacy is exacerbated by the fact that the debates do not only revolve around existing technologies, or ones that are currently being developed. They also evoke images of future systems that have so far been more of a conceptual vision, for example intelligent and human-like combat robots. The question of which technologies should be regulated and which should not be developed at all opens up a space of discourse that enmeshes existing systems with those that might possibly exist some time in the future.

These dynamics also raise more fundamental questions about the relationship between humans and machines, the degree of autonomy of artificial intelligence and the conditions of human control. These fundamental questions lie at the core of the debates on AI in general. But with the highly consequential technology of autonomous weapons, their relevance and urgency becomes particularly clear.

Research questions

Project partners

The research on the topic of autonomous weapon systems is conducted jointly with the project Scenarios of interaction – Human-machine interfaces in the discussion on autonomous weapon systems at the University of Bonn, in which the different concepts of human-machine interaction in autonomous weapon systems are analysed. The discussions will be examined by focussing on the specific interface solutions for human-machine interactions in AWS and their socio-technical imaginaries. In this way, the media-related conditions of responsibility as a concept in warfare will be made accessible for critical reflection. The project at the University of Bonn is part of the BMBF-funded joint project Meaningful human control – Autonomous weapons systems in between regulation and reflection (coordinated at the University of Paderborn).