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Addressing the ethical and technical challenges of AWS

A group working with the IEEE-SA has identified over 60 ethical and technical challenges in the development, use, and governance of autonomous weapons systems. Now our objective is a better understanding of what’s technically realistic for AWS technologies and the role of humans across every stage of the AWS lifecycle.

Panelists will discuss how they’re addressing the ethical and technical challenges of AWS, which includes working backwards through a scenario in which an AWS attacked a target—correctly or incorrectly. Then participants will break into groups to work backwards through a scenario themselves, with the goal of identifying what could go right or wrong at each stage of the lifecycle and how human decision-making at each stage impacts the outcome.

Addressing the ethical and technical challenges of AWS speakers

Ariel Conn

Head of the IEEE-SA Research Group on Issues of Autonomy and AI for Defense Systems
Lt. Gen. John N.T. (Jack) Shanahan (USAF, Ret.)

Inaugural Director of Project Maven and the U.S. DoD Joint AI Center; Adjunct Senior Fellow, CNAS
Ms. Anja Kaspersen

IEEE Director of Global Markets, Frontier
Wendell Wallach

Wendell Wallach, Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow and Co-Director of the AI and Equality Initiative at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. Emeritus Director of Technology and Ethics studies at the Yale University Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics

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