ABSTRACT
Spurred by advances in machine learning and neural network technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) is fast becoming ubiquitous, including in the military. Across the world, militaries are racing to develop and acquire new capabilities with AI. This is not surprising; the promises of AI for increased efficiency, speed and lethality are multiple and far reaching. For the faster and more efficient optimisation of non-combat activities and processes, AI holds the potential to make unwieldy operations leaner. But when it comes to combat activities and the use of AI for tactical, operational and/or strategic gains in highly dynamic environments, the utility of AI is as of yet insufficiently clear. This chapter explores the broad trends of military AI and considers the use of military AI for targeting in warfare, paying particular attention to the way military AI is shaping human behaviour in heretofore unacknowledged and morally significant ways. It argues that, as humans become functionally immersed in a military AI ecology, they are compelled to adopt a logic of speed and optimisation in their practices and reasoning, including ethical reasoning. This is a concerning development when it comes to the conduct of war, where the moral stakes could not be higher.
