Practices create norms, and words can shape reality. This applies to the debate on autonomous weapons and AI in the military domain. It is significant whether the technology precedes public deliberation and regulations. Additionally, it is crucial whether we refer to AI in the military as ”decision support systems”, ”emerging technology”, ”autonomous weapons”, or ”killer robots”. 

Professor and recipient of the Danish Elite Research Prize 2025, Ingvild Bode describes her research project, AutoNorms, and how it tracks discourse and development on autonomous weapons. Furthermore, Ingvild shares her perspectives on the black box, meaningful human control, ethical machines, and the future of regulation.

Shownotes:

Producer and host: Sune With [email protected]

Coverart: Sebastian Gram

References and literature

–       AutoNorms, PI Ingvild Bode (Accessed May 13. 2025)

https://www.autonorms.eu/

–       Arai, Koki; Matsumoto, Masakazu, 2023, ”Public perception of autonomous lethal weapons systems”, AI and Ethics (2024) 4:451–462

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43681-023-00282-9

–       Bode, Ingvild. 2024. ”Emergent Normativity: Communities of Practice, Technology, and Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems”. Global Studies Quarterly 4(1), https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksad073

–       Bode, Ingvild.; Nadibaidze, Anna, 2024, ”Autonomous Drones”. In J. P. Rogers (Ed.), De Gruyter Handbook on Drone Warfare, pp. 369-384, De Gruyter.

–       Bode, Ingvild; Bhila, Ishmael; September 3. 2024, ”The problem of algorithmic bias in AI-based military decision support”, Humanitarian Law and Policy, ICRC.

https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2024/09/03/the-problem-of-algorithmic-bias-in-ai-based-military-decision-support-systems/

–       Bode, Ingvild. 2023. “Practice-Based and Public-Deliberative Normativity: Retaining Human Control over the Use of Force.” European Journal of International Relations 29(4), 990-1016, https://doi.org/10.1177/13540661231163392

–       Bode, Ingvild, and Tom Watts. 2023. Loitering Munitions and Unpredictability: Autonomy in Weapon Systems and Challenges to Human Control. Odense, London: SDU Center for War Studies, Royal Holloway Centre for International Security. Link 

–       Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, 2021, “Killer Robots: Survey Shows Opposition Remains Strong”, Humans Rights Watch (Accessed May 14. 2025)

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/02/killer-robots-survey-shows-opposition-remains-strong

–       Deeney, Chris, 2019, “Six in Ten (61%) Respondents Across 26 Countries Oppose the Use of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems”, Ipsos (Accessed May 14. 2025).

https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/human-rights-watch-six-in-ten-oppose-autonomous-weapons

–       HuMach, PI Ingvild Bode. (Accessed May 13. 2025)

https://www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/forskningsenheder/samf/cws/cws-activities/projects/humach

–       IEEE Standart Association, A Research Group on Issues of Autonomy and AI in Defense Systems. (2024). ”A Framework for Human Decision Making Through the Lifecycle of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems in Defense Applications”. New York, NY: IEEE SA (Accessed April 2. 2025)

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10707139

–       IEEE Standards Association (Accessed April 2. 2025)

https://standards.ieee.org/

–       Nadibaidze, Anna; Bode, Ingvild; Zhang, Qiaochu, 2024, “AI in Military Decision Support Systems: A Review of Developments and Debates”, Center for War Studies, SDU. 

–       Overton Window, Wikipedia (Accessed May 13. 2025)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

–       Renic, Neil and Christenson, Johan, 2024, “Drones, the Russo-Ukrainian War, and the Future of Armed Conflict”, CMS Report. 

https://cms.polsci.ku.dk/english/publications/drones-the-russo-ukrainian-war-and-the-future-of-armed-conflict/.

–       The Overton Window, Mackinac Center for Public Policy (Accessed May 13. 2025)

https://www.mackinac.org/OvertonWindow

Music: Sofus Forsberg