Artificial Intelligence–Enabled Autonomous Weapon Systems: Feminist Perspectives on Meaningful Human Control

This chapter is an attempt to reframe, from feminist perspectives, international regulatory debates on a contested weapon system: autonomous weapon systems (AWS) that employ artificial intelligence. This chapter engages with the notion of meaningful human control, which has been one of the focal concepts of international negotiations for the regulation of AWS. Among a wide range of feminist theories on international law, the chapter invokes three strands of feminist thoughts: liberal feminism, critical race feminism, and post-modern feminism. Each perspective allows us to reconsider the types of ‘humans’ who are involved in, or absent from, the process of controlling the development and use of AWS. The prevalence of the concept of meaningful human control without the reflection of humans involved indicates that feminist critiques in international law have yet to permeate international negotiations on the regulation of weapon systems.