[DILEMA lecture] Trusted partners: Human-machine teaming and the future of military AI

On Tuesday 23 March 2021, Dr. Margarita Konaev (CSET) will deliver a DILEMA Lecture on the topic of ‘Trusted Partners: Human-Machine Teaming and the Future of Military AI’.

Abstract
As the U.S. military integrates AI into its systems and missions, there are outstanding questions about the role of trust in human-machine teams. This talk will examine the drivers and effects of trust in human-machine teams. It will assess the risks from trust deficits and uncritical trust in intelligent technologies. Also it will review efforts to build trustworthy AI systems, and offer future directions for research on trust relevant to the military applications of AI and human-machine teaming.

The lecture is based on the recent CSET Issue Brief: Margarita Konaev, Tina Huang and Husanjot Chahal, ‘Trusted Partners: Human-Machine Teaming and the Future of Military AI’ (February 2021)

About the speaker
Dr. Margarita Konaev is a Research Fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) interested in military applications of AI and Russian military innovation. Previously, she was a Non-Resident Fellow with the Modern War Institute at West Point, a post-doctoral fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House. Before joining CSET, she worked as a Senior Principal in the Marketing and Communications practice at Gartner.

Margarita’s research on international security, armed conflict, non-state actors and urban warfare in the Middle East, Russia and Eurasia has been published by the Journal of Strategic Studies, the Journal of Global Security Studies, Conflict Management and Peace Science, the French Institute of International Relations, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Lawfare, War on the Rocks, Defense One, Modern War Institute, Foreign Policy Research Institute and a range of other outlets. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, an M.A. in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and a B.A. from Brandeis University.

DILEMA lecture series
The DILEMA Lecture Series regularly invites academics and other experts working on issues related to the project to present their work and share reflections with a general audience comprising researchers, students, and professionals. Topics of interest within the scope of this lecture series include technical perspectives on military applications of AI, philosophical enquires into human control and human agency over technologies, analyses of international law in relation to (military) AI, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and interdisciplinary contributions related to these topics. Learn more here.

DILEMA project
The DILEMA Project explores interdisciplinary perspectives on military applications of artificial intelligence (AI), with a focus on legal, ethical, and technical approaches on safeguarding human agency over military AI. It analyses in particular subtle ways in which AI can affect or reduce human agency, and seeks to ensure compliance with international law and accountability by design. It investigates why it is essential to safeguard human agency over certain functions and activities, where it is most critical to maintain the role of human agents, and how to technically ensure that military technologies are designed and deployed in line with ethical and legal frameworks.

The project is led by Dr Berenice Boutin (Asser Institute). The project team includes Professor Terry Gill (University of Amsterdam), Professor Tom van Engers (University of Amsterdam; TNO), Dr Sadjad Soltanzadeh (Asser Institute, Post-doctoral researcher), Taylor Woodcock (Asser Institute, PhD researcher), and Klaudia Klonowska (Asser Institute, Junior researcher). The project is funded by NWO–MVI Programme on Responsible Innovation. It started in September 2020 and will run for four years.

For more information, see the project’s website.

You can now watch a recording of this event on the official T.M.C. Asser Instituut YouTube channel.