[Air-L] Call for Papers: AI and warfare (Conference, 16-18 October 2024, Berlin)

[Karoline Kozlowski]

Dear colleagues,
The Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) and the 
Department of Media Studies, University of Bonn invite submissions to an 
international conference on the topic of artificial intelligence and future 
warfare in Berlin from 16-18 October, 2024. The deadline for the abstracts 
is 7 July, 2024. More information is also available at 
www.hiig.de/events/ai-warfare/ <https://www.hiig.de/events/ai-warfare/> .


Call for papers: An International Conference in Berlin, Germany, 16-18 
October 2024

AI and warfare – Investigating the technological and political domains of 
current conflicts

Global conflicts and challenges to international security are among the most 
pressing issues of our time. Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping 
the ways in which warfare is conducted, adding both complications and 
urgency to the issues caused by the current major geopolitical shifts. AI is 
one of the driving factors of technological change in warfare in general, 
with its major effects mainly related to new degrees of complexity in 
automation and new forms of human-machine interaction. On the one hand, this 
change introduces new capabilities in weapons systems, in particular in the 
fields of processing information, generating knowledge and the automation of 
decision-making. Most prominently, this results in a decreasing level of 
human intervention and control, thereby reshaping the relationship between 
human operators and autonomous weapons systems. On the other hand,
AI-related developments do not only concern the kinetic dimension of warfare 
but also expand into what military theory calls the ‘information domain’. 
Shaping and controlling narratives has been an integral part of conflicts 
and warfare for a long time, with disinformation and propaganda campaigns 
utilising the most recent (media) technologies for this purpose. The 
functionality of AI applications will increasingly be integrated in these 
efforts, as can already be observed with the dissemination of manipulated 
content on social media. AI-based technologies are also deployed in cyber 
warfare, which is not limited to the singular hacking of a system, but 
rather targeted to directly affect whole digital military infrastructures or 
civilian entities in politics, the economy or research.

The objective of the conference is to explore these domains of modern 
warfare in order to develop a more accurate picture of the various effects 
of AI in military contexts. Another goal is to broaden the perspective of 
the military deployment of AI beyond questions of weapon systems and their 
control, by particularly looking at adversarial uses of AI in hybrid forms 
of warfare in the information domain. The conference particularly aims to 
develop and establish a dialogue between the research on these two domains 
that are often explored separately.

Against this background and in this spirit, we invite contributions along 
the following lines of inquiry:

(1) AI in military technologies and the relationship between humans and 
machines

The developments of machine learning and automated decision-making in 
networked and data-rich environments do not simply change weapons systems 
but rather have to be modelled as elements in complex systems of humans and 
machines. Military applications of AI, for example, pose various kinds of 
problems at the level of human control over these systems which can exert 
potentially lethal effects. They are also at the core of networked 
information processing (for example to select targets) and decision-making 
based on complex forms of synthesising data. Information superiority, 
situational awareness and electronic warfare are crucial issues for an 
understanding of the contemporary forms of military applications of AI-based 
weapons systems.

Talks in this section may address historical or contemporary examples for 
AI-based information processing in military systems and decision making such 
as target selection, including various forms of cyber liabilities of 
military networks and infrastructures (for example communication 
infrastructure as well as logistics or energy supply). It may also explore 
current technologies based on concepts of human-machine interaction, with 
questions on the role of interfaces, including battlefield management 
systems, or human-machine teaming in the interactions between manned and 
unmanned systems. Relevant contributions in this section may also analyse 
how research and development of military technologies are informed by larger 
cultural narratives of AI-enabled weapons.

(2) AI and the relationship between political processes and information 
warfare

Automated and autonomous forms of information generation and processing also 
extend deeply into the media systems of societies, its respective 
militaries, civil institutions and political systems. Corresponding 
questions concern various forms of automated manipulation of public opinion, 
via bots or targeted misinformation (including deep fakes) on social media 
platforms. This domain particularly addresses the political decision-making 
processes in an information and media environment that is increasingly 
influenced by AI technologies.

Talks in this section may address topics such as the use of AI in efforts to 
manipulate public opinion or political processes as part of hybrid attacks 
or warfare in the information domain. Besides the use of generative AI in 
producing manipulated content, phenomena also include AI-enabled mass 
surveillance, as well as the targeting, profiling and tracing of individuals 
in exerting power or with manipulative intentions (particularly evoking 
emotional responses). Other issues concern the question of how these 
developments challenge the idea of democratic legitimacy or mechanisms of 
regulation and accountability (e.g. democratic control of autonomous 
decision-making in military contexts).

We welcome contributions from scholars of diverse disciplines such as 
computer science, cultural studies, political science, international 
relations & security studies, media and communication studies, military 
studies, psychology, sociology and science and technology studies. 
Interdisciplinary approaches as well as perspectives from practitioners and 
developers are also encouraged.

Submission process
Abstracts of approximately 2,500 characters in length (excl. references) 
should be submitted no later than 7 July, 2024 to ai-warfare at hiig.de.
Speakers will be notified at the latest by 31 July, 2024.
More information is also available at www.hiig.de/events/ai-warfare/ 
<https://www.hiig.de/events/ai-warfare/> .