China has refused to sign a global pact outlining the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the military.
The legally non-binding pact was tabled at the The Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) summit in Seoul on Tuesday, and won the endorsement of about 60 countries, including the United States, Netherlands, Singapore, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
It laid out guidelines such as all applications of AI in the military would be “ethical and human-centric,” and that AI will never control “nuclear weapons employment”.
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“Appropriate human involvement needs to be maintained in the development, deployment and use of AI in the military domain, including appropriate measures that relate to human judgment and control over the use of force,” the document stated.
While China did send a representative to Seoul to attend REAIM, its official ‘opted out’ of the pact. Beijing was among roughly 30 other nations that did not back the document.
“We need to be realistic that we will never have the whole world on board,” Netherlands Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans told Reuters.
“How do we deal with the fact that not everyone is complying? … That is a complicated dilemma that we should also put on the table,” he added.
Netherlands is a co-host of the summit and held its first meet in The Hague last year. At that time, around 60 nations, including China, had endorsed a modest “call to action” without legal commitment.
Government representatives said on Tuesday this year’s “blueprint” was more action-oriented. It was keeping with advanced discussions and developments in the military such as Ukraine using AI-enabled drones in its ongoing war with Russia. Moscow was not invited to the summit.
“We are making further concrete steps,” Brekelmans said. “Last year … was more about creating shared understanding, now we are getting more towards action.”
Playing catch-up
The Seoul summit aims to ensure multi-stakeholder discussions are not dominated by a single nation or entity.
The pact signed on Tuesday includes laying out what kind of risk assessments should be made and how confidence-building measures can be taken in order to manage risks.
It stipulates that all signatories use AI in the military is done in “accordance with applicable national and international law”.
It also stresses on the need to prevent design flaws or the potential “misuse or malicious use” of AI such as the tech being used to proliferate weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by actors including terrorist groups.
But the declaration does not outline any sanctions or penalties in case those guidelines are violated.
It also acknowledges that the world remains far off from keeping up with advancements in AI and technology’s application to military tech.
Giacomo Persi Paoli, head of Programme Security and Technology at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), said countries should engage with others in between summits to mitigate any risks.
“The blueprint is an incremental step forward,” he said. “By going too fast, too soon, there is a very high risk that many countries do not want to engage.”
- Reuters, with additional editing by Vishakha Saxena
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