2 - AWS

Summary

Chapter 2 aims to analyse the current state of the debate surrounding AWS in order to understand different legal approaches to the topic of AWS. The chapter examines the different arguments (legal and non-legal) put forward in favour of and against a pre-emptive ban of AWS, the several definitions suggested by different states (Ireland, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States), and the difficulty in finding a common ground to discuss AWS. The definitions offered by states reveal different conceptions of AI, the interaction between human and weapons and opposite approaches to accountability. In this regard, looking at the present stage of AI and at what is expected from AWS, one definition is offered and fully examined. Two elements are crucial for the understanding of AWS: first, that AWS will be designed and programmed for a specific mission and, second, that AWS will be required to be assertive but also adaptable to the mutable circumstances of the battlefield.