Ethics, autonomy, and killer drones: Can machines do right?

Abstract

AbstractAs technology advances, machines will increasingly serve as moral arbiters of difficult and convoluted war tasks. Humanity is already in the dawn of the "Autonomous Revolution" and ethical questions and considerations regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in war cannot be delayed. The use of AI-enabled weaponized drones is a microcosm of the issues that arise. The purpose of this paper is to create and sustain a discussion of the ethics of emerging defense technologies by considering them in the context of mainstream ethical frameworks, analyzing the U.S.'s decision-making and moral justifications to date, and discussing what ethics should be instilled in AI-enabled military drones themselves, if indeed the U.S. decides to further pursue them. AcknowledgmentsThe author thanks Kerry M. Kartchner for his insight on developing the policy options for this article.Disclosure statementThe author reports there are no competing interests to declare.Notes1 Genesis 3:22 (NIV).2 Stephen Hummel and F. John Burpo, "Small Groups, Big Weapons: The Nexus of Emerging Technologies and Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism," Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, April 2020, https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD1100991.pdf, 12.3 Edmund F. Byrne, "Making Drones to Kill Civilians: Is It Ethical?" Journal of Business Ethics 147, no. 1 (2018): 83, http://www.jstor.org/stable/45022364.4 Byrne, "Making Drones to Kill," 84.5 Paul McLeary and Alexander Ward, "U.S. Sending Switchblade Drones to Ukraine in $800 Million Package," Politico, March 16, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/16/us-sends-switchblade-drones-to-ukraine-00017836.6 Nicola Slawson, "First Thing: Al-Qaeda Leader Killed in US Drone Strike, Joe Biden Says," The Guardian, August 2, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/02/first-thing-al-qaida-leader-killed-in-us-drone-strike-joe-biden-says.7 Sanjana Varghese, "Mass Drone Attacks in Ukraine Foreshadow the 'Future of Warfare'," Al Jazeera, October 20, 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/20/mass-drones-are-a-worry-for-the-future-of-warfare.8 Kris Osborn, "Navy Accelerates AI-Enabled, Autonomous Drones," Warrior Maven, April 25, 2022, https://warriormaven.com/sea/military-drones.9 Amir Husain, "AI Is Shaping the Future of War," PRISM 9, no. 3 (2021): 51, https://www.jstor.org/stable/48640745.10 "Artificial Intelligence (AI)," IBM, June 3, 2020, https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/what-is-artificial-intelligence.11 Stephan De Spiegeleire, Matthijs Maas, and Tim Sweijs, "Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Defense: Strategic Implications for Small- and Medium-Sized Force Providers," Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, January 2017, http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep12564.8, 53.12 De Spiegeleire, Maas, and Sweijs, "Artificial Intelligence and the Future," 45.13 James S. Johnson, "Artificial Intelligence: A Threat to Strategic Stability," Strategic Studies Quarterly 14, no. 1 (2020): 17–18, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26891882.14 Husain, "AI Is Shaping," 53.15 "AlphaDogfight Trials Foreshadow Future of Human-Machine Symbiosis," Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), August 26, 2020, https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2020-08-26.16 DARPA, "AlphaDogfight Trials."17 Natasha E. Bajema, "WMD in the Digital Age: Understanding the Impact of Emerging Technologies," Center for the Study Weapons of Mass Destruction, October 25, 2018, https://wmdcenter.ndu.edu/Portals/97/UpdatedEnCno4.pdf?ver=2019-02-13-072413-410, 2.18 Bajema, "WMD in the Digital Age," 17–18.19 Norine MacDonald and George Howell, "Killing Me Softly: Competition in Artificial Intelligence and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," PRISM 8, no. 3 (2019): 113, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26864279.20 MacDonald and Howell, "Killing Me Softly," 114.21 John P. Caves, Jr. and W. Seth Carus, "The Future of Weapons of Mass Destruction: An Update," National Intelligence University, February 2021, https://ni-u.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Future_