Death by Algorithm
Death by Algorithm
Podcast Description
A series on autonomous weapons systems, drones and AI in the military domain. Experts from various disciplines share their research and discuss the black box, responsibility, human-machine interaction, and the future of legal and ethical frameworks for AI in war. How is war regulated? Can the ethics of war be programmed into machines? Does it change how we fight? Can war be cleaned up by technology? How can soldiers understand the systems? Will AI systems be the commanders of tomorrow? Why not just let the robots fight? Episodes are narration and interviews and not chronological
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast centers around the intersection of technology and warfare, with episodes exploring themes such as the ethical implications of AI in combat, the black box problem in military drones, and legal responsibilities around autonomous weapons. For instance, 'A Taste of Tragedy' examines the impact of autonomous systems through the lens of the Ukraine conflict, while 'Just War' questions the justification of machine-led combat and its philosophical underpinnings.
A series on autonomous weapons systems, drones and AI in the military domain. Experts from various disciplines share their research and discuss the black box, responsibility, human-machine interaction, and the future of legal and ethical frameworks for AI in war. How is war regulated? Can the ethics of war be programmed into machines? Does it change how we fight? Can war be cleaned up by technology? How can soldiers understand the systems? Will AI systems be the commanders of tomorrow? Why not just let the robots fight? Episodes are narration and interviews and not chronological
Just war means a justified war. But what justifies a war? Can letting machines kill be justified? How and where is war regulated? And how are the philosophical and legal frameworks of war connected? Iben Yde, lawyer and consultant at Rethink Advisory, explains and gives an account of her role as a military lawyer and advisor.
Claus Borg Reinholdt, correspondent for TV2 Denmark, tells a horrifying story of a drone siege of Kherson, Ukraine.
Besides explaining how war is regulated, Iben Yde provides her perspectives on the black box problem, the notion of meaningful human control, programming ethics into machines, and the future of regulating autonomous weapons through the CCW and GGE, UN system.
Shownotes:
Producer and host: Sune With [email protected]
Cover artwork: Sebastian Gram
Arkin, C. Ronald, 2009, “Governing Lethal Behaviour in Autonomous Robots”, CRC Press.
Arkin, Ronald C., 2010, ”The Case for Ethical Autonomy in Unmanned Systems”, Journal of Military Ethics, 9:4, 332-341
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) (Accessed Feb 25. 2025).
https://disarmament.unoda.org/the-convention-on-certain-conventional-weapons/
Geneva Conventions and the rules of war with comments. ICRC (Accessed Feb 25. 2025).
https://www.icrc.org/en/law-and-policy/geneva-conventions-and-their-commentaries
Group of Governmental Experts, UN (Accessed Feb 25. 2025).
https://disarmament.unoda.org/group-of-governmental-experts/
Orend, Brian, 2016, “War”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2016
Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) (Accessed Feb 25. 2025)
https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2016/entries/war/ – 2.2
RE-AIM Blueprint for Action, 2024 (Accessed Feb 25. 2025).
Reinholdt, Claus Borg, November 11. 2024, News story on drone attacks in Kherson, Ukraine (Accessed Feb 28. 2025)
Responsibility to Protect, R2P, UN, 2005 (Accessed Feb 25. 2025).
https://www.un.org/en/genocide-prevention/responsibility-protect/about
Rethink Advisory, 2025 (Accessed Feb 25. 2025).
https://www.rethinkadvisory.dk/
United Nations Charter, 26 June 1945 (Accessed Feb 25. 2025)
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter
United Nations, 11. February 2025, “Short-range drones: The deadliest threat to civilians in Ukraine” (Assessed 12. March 2025)
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1160016
Walzer, Michael, 1977, 2015, “Just and Unjust Wars – a moral argument with historical illustrations”, Basic Books, fifth edition.
Yde, Iben, Galasz, Dahlberg, 2021, ”Smart krig – Militær anvendelse af kunstig intelligens”, DJØF’s forlag.
Music: Sofus Forsberg
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