Military AI, Risk Capital and the Making of War & Peace

Public Keynote by Elke Schwarz (Queen Mary University) on “Military AI, Risk Capital and the Making of War & Peace”

The Keynote is also the opening lecture f 

Artificial intelligence and autonomous weapon systems are increasingly shaping the strategies and tactics of warfare. It is not only current wars, such as those on Ukraine and in Gaza, that contribute to the accelerated development and deployment of algorithmic technologies, but also the promises associated with them: the promise of a technology that is much faster than human agency and the adversary; whose decision‑making is unaffected by emotions; that is precise, efficient, and ethical; that guarantees information superiority; and that is open to control and legal regulation. Promises are powerful: they shape our imaginations and expectations, and they encourage us to take action and realise visions. Promises have real‑world effects.

The conference of our research network, “Meaningful Human Control: Autonomous weapon systems between regulation and reflection”, critically examines the many promises of algorithmic warfare, their world‑making and performative forces, as well as their ambiguities, limits, and discrepancies.

This event takes place in English.