Bounded Autonomy, Meaningful Human Control and Military AI - Jan Maarten Schraagen

Law and the Future of War

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In this episode we dive into issues of human-machine teaming, with human factors engineer Jan Maarten Schraagen. Having edited the recently released book, Responsible Use of AI in Military Systems, Jan Maarten is an expert on how brittle technologies influence joint cognitive system performance. In this episode, in addition to exploring the book, we explore the outcomes of the 2023 REAIM Summit and what we can hope for from the 2024 Summit; talk about multidisciplinarity in the responsible military AI debate; and how we should be thinking about capability envelope of military AI - that is, how it can or should be restricted in the conditions under which it can operate.
Jan Maarten Schraagen is a cognitive systems engineer at TNO, and studies how brittle technologies influence joint cognitive system performance. He is a human factors specialist with broad experience in optimizing work processes and teamwork design. He is particularly interested in making work safe, productive and healthy, and improving resilience in sociotechnical work systems.
Additional resources:

• Jan Maarten Schraagen (ed), Responsible Use of AI in Military Systems, CRC Press, 2024
• Ekelhof, M.A.C. (2018). Lifting the Fog of Targeting: “Autonomous Weapons” and Human Control through the Lens of Military Targeting. Naval War College Review, 71(3), 61-94.
• Ekelhof, M.A.C. (2019). Moving beyond semantics on autonomous weapons: Meaningful human control in operation. Global Policy, 10(3), 343-348.
• Endsley, M.R. (2017). From here to autonomy: Lessons learned from human-automation research. Human Factors, 59(1), 5-27.
• Taddeo, M., & Blanchard, A. (2022). A comparative analysis of the definitions of autonomous weapons systems. Science and Engineering Ethics, 28, 37-59.
• Herbert Simon, Bounded Rationality, Utility and Probability, NPA, 1990
• Peeters, M.M.M., van Diggelen, J., van den Bosch, K., Bronkhorst, A., Neerincx, M.A., Schraagen, J.M., Raaijmakers, S. (2021). Hybrid collective intelligence in a human–AI society. AI and Society, 36(1), 217-238.
• Schraagen, J.M.C., Barnhoorn, J.S., Van Schendel, J., & Van Vught, W. (2022). Supporting teamwork in hybrid multi-team systems. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 23(2), 199-220.
• Van der Kleij, R., Schraagen, J.M.C., Cadet, B., & Young, H.J. (2022). Developing decision support for cybersecurity threat and incident managers. Computers & Security, 113, 102535.
• Schraagen, J.M.C. (2023). Responsible use of AI in military systems: Prospects and challenges. Ergonomics, 66(11), 1719 – 1729.