AI in Weapon Systems Committee
Proceed with Caution: Artificial Intelligence in Weapon Systems
Report of Session 2023-24 - published 1 December 2023 - HL Paper 16
Contents
Box 1: Artificial intelligence
Box 2: Automation and autonomy in weapon systems
Figure 1: Autonomy spectrum framework
Box 3: The Ministry of Defence’s Five Ethical Principles for AI in Defence
The international policy landscape
Chapter 2: Automation, Autonomy and AI
Capturing the characteristics of AWS
Challenges in creating a single definition
Predictability and reliability
Transparency and Explainability
Testing, evaluation, verification and validation
Meaningful human control and accountability
Chapter 3: AWS and the Battlefield of the Future
Box 7: Potential battlefield benefits and risks of AWS
Changing paradigms of conflict
Use of AWS by non-state actors
Escalation and an AI arms race
AI in nuclear command and control
Box 9: Block Nuclear Launch by Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Act
Box 10: Basic Principles of international humanitarian law
IHL obligations during weapons development
Enforcement and accountability
Does the regulation of AWS require new international law?
Chapter 5: UK Domestic Policy on AWS
Translating strategy to operational practice
Procurement, Innovation and Talent
Summary of conclusions and recommendations
Appendix 1: List of Members and declarations of interest
Appendix 4: Examples of AWS and AI-enabled weapons
Evidence is published online at https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/646/ai-in-weapon-systems-committee/publications/ and available for inspection at the Parliamentary Archives (020 7219 3074).
Q in footnotes refers to a question in oral evidence