Project description

The development and use of AI-based weapons systems is one of the most pressing challenges to international security and peace. Current conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East demonstrate that such systems are already being used extensively, are fundamentally changing the nature of warfare. The transregional and interdisciplinary research network “Meaningful Human Control: Autonomous Weapon Systems between Regulation and Reflection” (MeHuCo) is dedicated to contextualizing previously unconnected problem descriptions and disparate concepts, with the aim of bringing them together in an interdisciplinary research program. During the funding period from 2026 to 2028, the scientific analysis of autonomous weapon systems (AWS) is to be expanded to include AI-based warfare, including decision-making and targeting systems (EZS), with the focus directed not solely on future war scenarios but on concrete cases and their consequences. Parallel to the use of autonomous systems, not only is there mounting criticism, but also discourses on the legitimacy of so-called responsible AI (RAI)—even beyond the debate on meaningful human control (MHC). In light of the dynamic developments in this field of research, the emerging discourses, development trends, and forms of deployment of AI-based warfare will be examined along their normative (University of Paderborn, UPB), affective (University of Hamburg, UHH), and operational (University of Bonn, RFWUB) dimensions. On the one hand, the network of expertise is supported by international law scholars (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, ECCHR) who serve as attorneys in specific criminal proceedings before the International Criminal Court and the European Court of Human Rights. On the other hand, expertise in peace research based on technology assessment (PD Dr. Jürgen Altmann, TU Dortmund) is integrated into the network to analyze and contextualize current systems and discuss them in the context of disarmament and arms control.

To ensure that the results are communicated in a manner tailored to specific target audiences, the dissemination strategy includes not only academic formats (publications and events) but also public screenings of the documentary film (‘Threatspaces and Datapoints’ – working title) produced by Prof. Dr. Shona Illingworth during the funding period 2022–2026, a lecture series in cooperation with the Federal Agency for Civic Education, various social media activities, and a science fiction novel by Theresa Hannig.