Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract The conclusion distils the book’s main findings and connecting themes and advances some tentative proposals for potential policy responses. The book is premised on the assumption that (a) the drive to synthesize AI technology with military capabilities is inevitable and exponential; (b) the effects of this phenomenon on human agents in war is neither incontrovertible nor predetermined; and (c) machines cannot reliably compliment or augment, let alone replace the role of humans in command decision-making. It includes possible follow-up measures, designed to maximize the advantages and minimize the risks in future human–machine interfaces, that policymakers, designers, and users might consider. The chapter ends with three counterfactual scenarios that expose and challenge prevailing assumptions and what we think can be done to assuage them. They are designed as reflective tools to expose weaknesses in the perceived wisdom and to expose potential blind spots in how we frame our research questions to consider nuclear risk anew in the digital age.