South Korea looks forward to create guidelines for AI use in military
News Mania Desk/ Piyal Chatterjee/ 9th September 2024
An international summit was called by South Korea on Monday in an attempt to create guidelines for the military’s responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI), however any agreement reached is unlikely to have legal authority behind it.
This two-day summit in Seoul is the second of its kind, with government delegates from over 90 countries, including China and the United States.
The United States, China, and other countries supported a modest “call to action, opens new tab” at the first summit, which took place in Amsterdam last year, but there was no legal commitment.
“Recently, in the Russia-Ukraine war, an AI-applied Ukrainian drone functioned as David’s slingshot,” South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun said in an opening address.
He was alluding to Ukraine’s attempts to acquire a technological advantage over Russia by introducing AI-enabled drones, with the hope that they would assist in defeating signal jamming and allow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to operate in larger formations.
Discussions will address topics like a legal assessment to guarantee adherence to international law and safeguards to stop autonomous weapons from making life-or-death decisions without the proper human oversight, according to South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.
According to a senior South Korean official, the Seoul summit aimed to agree on a blueprint for action that would establish a minimum level of safeguards for AI in the military and suggest principles on responsible use by reflecting principles laid out by NATO, the U.S., or a number of other countries.
Co-hosted by the Netherlands, Singapore, Kenya, and the United Kingdom, the Seoul summit seeks to guarantee continued multi-stakeholder dialogue in an area where governments make most of the decisions but the private sector drives most technology advancements.
Approximately 2,000 individuals from around the world have registered for the summit, including officials from academia, international organizations, and the commercial sector. They will be attending talks on subjects like AI’s application in nuclear weapon management and civilian protection.
