The use of autonomy to initiate force, which states may begin to view as necessary to protect against hypersonic attacks and other forms of ‘hyperwar,’ may effectively constitute a delegation of war-initiation decision making to a machine. Yet legal questions about whether and when the leader of a country may delegate their decision making to others – and normative questions about whether he should do so – can be complicated. Any state that intends to introduce significant autonomy into such systems should assess whether and how the use of autonomy in war-initiation comports with its domestic laws and norms that govern the delegation of the use of force.
Citation
Ashley S. Deeks, Delegating War Initiation to Machines, 78 Australian Journal of International Affairs 148–153 (2024).