Aspects of Realizing (Meaningful) Human Control a legal perspective

The concept of ‘meaningful human control’ (MHC) has progressively emerged as a key frame of reference to conceptualize the difficulties posed by military applications of AI, and to identify solutions to mitigate these challenges. However, this notion remains relatively indeterminate and difficult to operationalize. If MHC is to support the existing framework of international law, it needs to be clarified in order to deal with the challenges of military AI broadly construed, not limited to ‘autonomous weapons systems’ (AWS). This chapter seeks to refine the notion of MHC by exploring its nature and purpose, and reflecting on how MHC relates to core concepts of human agency and responsibility. Building on this analysis, we propose ways to operationalize MHC, in particular by putting greater emphasis on pre-deployment stages. A legal ‘compliance by design’ approach is advanced as a means to address the complex realities when military decision-making processes are mediated by AI-enabled technologies.