The Realities of Autonomous Weapons

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. The realities of autonomous weapons are a complex blend of both existing military technologies and visions of their future capabilities. The expected ramifications are profound and always point to the interplay between fact and fiction, actual developments and creative imagination. This book explores how these realities shape and become themselves shaped by popular culture, regulatory and ethics debates, military doctrines, policies and research. It examines phenomena ranging from film and artistic interpretations to warfare scenarios and weaponized artificial intelligence. Intended for researchers (including the disciplines of political and social sciences, media, culture and technology), policy makers, educators and journalists, this is a key resource that uncovers how autonomous weapons are constructed as both a technological reality and a futuristic possibility.

Thomas Christian Bächle is Head of the Digital Society Research Programme at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin and Researcher at the University of Bonn. Jascha Bareis is Researcher at the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Associate Researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society.