Building Consensus on the U.S. Framework for a Political Declaration on the Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy

Today, the U.S. Government unveiled its framework for a “Political Declaration on the Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy” at the Summit on Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM 2023). The aim of the Declaration is to build international consensus around how militaries can responsibly incorporate AI and autonomy into their operations, and to help guide states’ development, deployment, and use of this technology for defense purposes to ensure it promotes respect for international law, security, and stability.

The Declaration consists of a series of non-legally binding guidelines describing best practices for responsible use of AI in a defense context. These include ensuring that military AI systems are auditable, have explicit and well-defined uses, are subject to rigorous testing and evaluation across their lifecycle, and that high-consequence applications undergo senior-level review and are capable of being deactivated if they demonstrate unintended behavior. We believe that this Declaration can serve as a foundation for the international community on the principles and practices that are necessary to ensure the responsible military uses of AI and autonomy.

We commend the Netherlands and the Republic of Korea for taking the initiative to co-host the REAIM Summit and for launching a timely discussion on this topic. We view the need to ensure militaries use emerging technologies such as AI responsibly as a shared challenge. We look forward to engaging with other likeminded stakeholders to build a consensus around this proposed Declaration and develop strong international norms of responsible behavior.