CMS Researcher publishes new article: "Tragic reflection, political wisdom, and the future of algorithmic war"
Neil Renic, Researcher at the Centre for Military Studies, has published a new article, “Tragic reflection, political wisdom, and the future of algorithmic war”, in the Australian Journal of International Affairs.
The article discusses the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques as tools of overcoming human biases (e.g. group think) in decision-making related to the use of force, enabling better informed decisions through probabilistic predictions, recommendations, and evaluations. There is a growing concern over automation bias – that the ceding of too much authority to computer-generated outputs will lead to a de-skilling of human operators, policymakers and institutions, degrading the quality of resort-to-violence decisions.
Renic argues that while we are right to be cautious over automation bias in human-machine decisions, our concern should also extend beyond this. He points out that the speed, inflexibility, and false confidence in algorithmically assisted decision-making dulls awareness of the tragic character of violence, making imprudent and immoral uses of force more - not less - likely.