Abstract
The rapid incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous weapon systems, algorithmic targeting, unmanned platforms, ubiquitous surveillance, and AI-enabled decision-support technologies is transforming contemporary warfare. While these technologies promise greater precision, speed, situational awareness, and operational efficiency, they also create profound ethical and legal challenges concerning human dignity, civilian protection, responsibility, accountability, and the legitimate use of force. This article examines the central paradox of AI-enabled warfare: technologies designed to increase the precision of violence may simultaneously increase the physical, perceptual, and moral distance between decision-makers and those subjected to violence. It argues that the principal ethical challenge of the new war is not technological autonomy as such, but the potential displacement of human moral agency by algorithmic decision-making. Drawing on ‘Just War Theory’, international humanitarian law (IHL), human security, responsible AI, and contemporary debates concerning autonomous weapons, the article develops a human-centred normative framework based on ten principles: humanity before military efficiency; meaningful human control; a presumption against autonomous lethal action; humanity impact assessment; minimisation of foreseeable harm; human-centred AI; preservation of human judgement; independent investigation and accountability; empathy in security policy; and strong international regulation. The article concludes that technological progress in warfare should be evaluated not primarily by computational speed, precision, or destructive efficiency, but by its capacity to preserve human dignity, minimise suffering, maintain accountability, and protect civilian life.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Autonomous Weapons, Ethics of Warfare, Meaningful Human Control, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), Human Dignity, Algorithmic Warfare, Human Security, Responsible AI, Autonomous Weapons Systems
