South Korea summit announces ‘blueprint’ for using AI in the military

SEOUL: A global summit in South Korea on Tuesday (Sep 10) announced a “blueprint for action” to govern responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the military, with more practical guidelines than a similar document last year, but still legally non-binding.
It was not immediately clear how many of the 96 nations that sent government representatives to the summit, including the United States and China, are endorsing the document.
The Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) summit in Seoul, the second of its kind, follows one held in Amsterdam last year. At that time, around 60 nations endorsed a modest “call to action” without legal commitment.
Government representatives speaking at a roundtable on Tuesday said this year’s “blueprint” was more action-oriented.
This is in keeping with advances in discussions about AI risk, and developments in military use of AI such as Ukraine’s rollout of AI-enabled drones.
“We are making further concrete steps,” Netherlands Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans told Reuters. “Last year … was more about creating shared understanding, now we are getting more towards action.”
This includes laying out what kind of risk assessments should be made, important conditions such as human control, and how confidence-building measures can be taken in order to manage those risks, he said.
Among the details added in the document was the need to prevent AI from being used to proliferate weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by actors including terrorist groups, and the importance of maintaining human control and involvement in nuclear weapons employment.
South Korean officials said the document covers much of the same ground as principles laid out elsewhere, such as the US government’s declaration on responsible use of AI in the military launched last year.
But the Seoul summit – co-hosted by the Netherlands, Singapore, Kenya and the United Kingdom – aims to ensure ongoing multi-stakeholder discussions not dominated by a single nation or entity.
The venue and timing for the next summit is still being discussed, officials said.