Military Review English Edition May-June 2014 | Page 14

Responsibility Practices
in Robotic Warfare
Deborah G. Johnson, Ph.D., and Merel E. Noorman, Ph.D.

U

NMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVs), also known as drones, are commonplace
in U.S. military operations. Many predict increased military use of more sophisticated and more autonomous robots.1 Increased use of robots has the potential to transform
how those directly involved in warfare, as well as the public, perceive and experience war.
Military robots allow operators and commanders to be miles away from the battle, engaging in conflicts virtually through computer screens and controls. Video cameras and sensors operated by robots provide technologically mediated renderings of what is happening
on the ground, affecting the actions and attitudes of all involved.
Central to the ethical concerns raised by robotic warfare, especially the use of autonomous
military robots, are issues of responsibility and accountability. Who will be responsible
when robots decide for themselves and behave in unpredictable ways or in ways that their
human partners do not understand? For example, who will be responsible if an autonomously
operating unmanned aircraft crosses a border without authorization or erroneously identifies
a friendly aircraft as a target and shoots it down?2 Will a day come when robots themselves
are considered responsible for their actions?3
Deborah G. Johnson is the Anne Shirley Carter Olsson Professor of Applied Ethics in the Science, Technology,
and Society Program at the University of Virginia. She holds a Ph.D., M.A., and M.Phil. from the University of
Kansas and a B.Ph. from Wayne State University. The author/editor of seven books, she writes and teaches about
the ethical issues in science and engineering, especially those involving computers and information technology.

Merel E. Noorman is a postdoctoral researcher at the eHumanities group of the Royal Netherlands Academy
for Arts and Sciences. Before joining the eHumanities group, she was a postdoctoral research associate in the
Science, Technology, and Society Program at the University of Virginia, where she worked with Deborah Johnson
on the research this paper is based on. She received her Ph.D. from Maastricht University and studied artificial
intelligence and science and technology studies at the University of Amsterdam and Edinburgh University.

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May-June 2014

MILITARY REVIEW