Autonomous weapons systems seem to be on the path to becoming accepted technologies of warfare. The weaponization of artificial intelligence raises questions about whether human beings will maintain control of the use of force. The notion of meaningful human control has become a focus of international debate on lethal autonomous weapons systems among members of the United Nations: many states have diverging ideas about various complex forms of human-machine interaction and the point at which human control stops being meaningful.
In Autonomous Weapons Systems and International Norms Ingvild Bode and Hendrik Huelss present an innovative study of how testing, developing, and using weapons systems with autonomous features shapes ethical and legal norms, and how standards manifest and change in practice. Autonomous weapons systems are not a matter for the distant future – some autonomous features, such as in air defence systems, have been in use for decades. They have already incrementally changed use-of-force norms by setting emerging standards for what counts as meaningful human control. As UN discussions drag on with minimal progress, the trend towards autonomizing weapons systems continues.
A thought-provoking and urgent book, Autonomous Weapons Systems and International Norms provides an in-depth analysis of the normative repercussions of weaponizing artificial intelligence.

Ingvild Bode is associate professor of international politics at the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark.

Ingvild Bode's profile page

Hendrik Huelss is assistant professor of international politics at the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark.

Hendrik Huelss' profile page

“The authors present a comprehensive analytical study of AWS and its context in an innovative, pathbreaking academic work of exemplary quality that displays outstanding knowledge of military operations and their political implications.” H-War, H-Net

“Ainsi que le soulignent Ingvild Bode et Hendrik Huelss, l’autonomisation des systèmes d’armes n’est pasune préoccupation futuriste mais unphénomène déjà à l’œuvre. Certaines fonctions autonomes sont déjà utilisées depuis des décennies, par exemple dansles systèmes de défense aérienne. Leur déploiement a progressivement transformé les normes d’usage de la force et de contrôle humain. Cet ouvrage est donc très pertinent pour saisir les enjeux liés à la militarisation de l’Intelligence artificielle et ses implicationspour les relations internationales engénéral.” Politique étrangère

“Using the concept of procedural norms, the authors demonstrate that standards of appropriateness relating to the use of AWS have already emerged, despite the relative novelty of AI-powered weapons.” International Journal

"The new possibility of autonomous weapons is creating a tangle of strategic, legal, and ethical questions. This terrific book maps the terrain of these questions and points the way to integrating new technologies of war into ideas of world order. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how new weapons are changing the world." Ian Hurd, Weinberg College Center for International and Area Studies, Northwestern University

"This timely book offers a novel and important contribution to the emerging debate on autonomous weapons systems. Ingvild Bode and Hendrik Huelss’s study presents a fresh and original perspective. The authors skilfully analyse and depict the political, legal, and ethical challenges generated by human-machine interaction and the weaponisation of artificial intelligence." Birgit Schippers, St Mary’s University College Belfast and editor of The Routledge Handbook to Rethinking Ethics in International Relations