The ESDiT Fellow Adam Henschke (Assistant Professor at the University of Twente) was interviewed by University World News on his work on military technology for the article “Military philosophers ponder AI-human control of lethal weapons.”
In the article, Henschke describes, with some fellow scholars, the ethical concerns about AI augmented systems in the military, specifically LAWS – Lethal Automated WeaponS. Henschke walks the reader through his knowledge and experience teaching students how to navigate such roiled waters, with a focus on the s.c. ‘automation bias’: the over trust on artificial intelligence, especially if the latter has proven itself generally reliable.
“In terms of teaching students about AWSs, Utilitarianism provides students with a useful and intuitive guide for decision making – while we may not want to kill an enemy soldier, if their death would save many more lives, we have an explanation for why this act of war might be permitted.
“However, ethics generally, and the Just War tradition in particular, recognises that we need to think of more than the ends justifying the means. We cannot intentionally target civilians, or attack surrendering enemy soldiers, even if that might improve our chances of winning. Utilitarianism, where the overall good of an outcome is an important part of moral reasoning, is only part of how we make moral decisions.”
Read “Military philosophers ponder AI-human control of lethal weapons:” https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20240424084653222