Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Ethics, and the Military: A Canadian Perspective

Defense and security organizations depend upon science and technology to meet operational needs, predict and counter threats, and meet increasingly complex demands of modern warfare. Artificial intelligence and robotics could provide solutions to a wide range of military gaps and deficiencies. At the same time, the unique and rapidly evolving nature of AI and robotics challenges existing polices, regulations, and values, and introduces complex ethical issues that might impede their development, evaluation, and use by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Early consideration of potential ethical issues raised by military use of emerging AI and robotics technologies in development is critical to their effective implementation. This article presents an ethics assessment framework for emerging AI and robotics technologies. It is designed to help technology developers, policymakers, decision makers, and other stakeholders identify and broadly consider potential ethical issues that might arise with the military use and integration of emerging AI and robotics technologies of interest. We also provide a contextual environment for our framework, as well as an example of how our framework can be applied to a specific technology. Finally, we briefly identify and address several pervasive issues that arose during our research.

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Are Military and Medical Ethics Necessarily Incompatible? A Canadian Case Study

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1177/1073110516684809 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 44 (4) ◽

pp. 639-651 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Christiane Rochon ◽

Bryn Williams-Jones

Keyword(s):

Medical Ethics ◽

Code Of Ethics ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Codes Of Ethics ◽

Core Values ◽

Dual Loyalty ◽

Canadian Armed Forces ◽

Military Institution ◽

The Military ◽

Military Physicians

Military physicians are often perceived to be in a position of ‘dual loyalty’ because they have responsibilities towards their patients but also towards their employer, the military institution. Further, they have to ascribe to and are bound by two distinct codes of ethics (i.e., medical and military), each with its own set of values and duties, that could at first glance be considered to be very different or even incompatible. How, then, can military physicians reconcile these two codes of ethics and their distinct professional/institutional values, and assume their responsibilities towards both their patients and the military institution? To clarify this situation, and to show how such a reconciliation might be possible, we compared the history and content of two national professional codes of ethics: the Defence Ethics of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Code of Ethics of the Canadian Medical Association. Interestingly, even if the medical code is more focused on duties and responsibility while the military code is more focused on core values and is supported by a comprehensive ethical training program, they also have many elements in common. Further, both are based on the same core values of loyalty and integrity, and they are broad in scope but are relatively flexible in application. While there are still important sources of tension between and limits within these two codes of ethics, there are fewer differences than may appear at first glance because the core values and principles of military and medical ethics are not so different.

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The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members' experience with social services in the military: an exploratory study

10.32920/ryerson.14645991 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Felisha K. Khan

Keyword(s):

Social Services ◽

Lived Experiences ◽

Service Providers ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Utilization Of Services ◽

Perceived Need ◽

Canadian Armed Forces ◽

Regular Force ◽

The Military ◽

Depth Interviews

The aim of this study was to critically explore the strengths, limitations, barriers and gaps in social services within the CAF in relation to delivery, access and uptake of social services while employed in the CAF. The study provided CAF members an opportunity to express their thoughts, ideas and opinions based on their lived experiences, and to explore creative responses and solutions to issues members face with social services in the CAF. Presented are the findings from data collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with recently released CAF members. Themes that emerged from the research captured the lived experiences of the participants and were related to: differences between components (Regular Force vs. Reserve Force), perceived need and its effect on utilization of services, significant improvements in services post 9/11 and Afghanistan, organizational and systemic influence, impact of service providers, and better promotion of social services to the greater CAF community.

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Working together to address sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces

Journal of Military Veteran and Family Health ◽

10.3138/jmvfh-2021-0033 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Andrea Brown ◽

Heather Millman ◽

Bethany Easterbrook ◽

Alexandra Heber ◽

Rosemary Park ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gender Discrimination ◽

Health And Safety ◽

Sexual Misconduct ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Canadian Armed Forces ◽

Military Members ◽

Physical Health Problems ◽

Working Together ◽

And Gender ◽

The Military

LAY SUMMARY In 2015, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) implemented Operation HONOUR to eliminate sexual misconduct (SM) in the military. Sexual assault, inappropriate sexual behaviours, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination are all types of SM. Experiencing SM can result in depression, substance abuse, physical health problems, and even posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite Operation HONOUR, SM still happens in the CAF. At this time, many groups are working together to address SM and to support those who have experienced SM. Canadian-based researchers, policymakers, military members, Veterans, and clinicians are collaborating to identify new approaches to training, culture change, research, and treatment relating to SM in the CAF. The end goal of working together is to minimize SM in the CAF and ensure the health and safety of all CAF members and Veterans.

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Environmental Ethics in the Military

International Journal of Technoethics ◽

10.4018/ijt.2018070105 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 51-61

Author(s):

Marina Malamud

Keyword(s):

Environmental Ethics ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

International Environmental Agreements ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Environmental Security ◽

Ethical Challenges ◽

Social Trends ◽

Development Agenda ◽

Operational Systems ◽

The Military

Environmental security can be framed in environmental risks towards security, such as extreme climatic events that incite new conflicts in local populations, and the security impact on the environment as a result of human-induced damage to the ecosystem. As a result, the fact that climatic-related events can pose a threat to security and the environmental footprint can undermine peace has thus raised a concern in many militaries of democratic nations. This research article introduces the mainstream environmental security literature through the geopolitical, human security and biocentric perspectives and main social trends to analyze ethical issues in the relationship between ecology and the armed forces. It is argued that there are two major ethical challenges for the military: the securitization of the development agenda that can lead to a militarized conservation in conflict areas; and the search for a corporate sense of responsibility in terms of efficient and still ecologically sustainable operational systems that comply with international environmental agreements.

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The AAAI-13 Conference Workshops

AI Magazine ◽

10.1609/aimag.v34i4.2511 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 34 (4) ◽

pp. 108-115

Author(s):

Vikas Agrawal ◽

Christopher Archibald ◽

Mehul Bhatt ◽

Hung Bui ◽

Diane J. Cook ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Health Informatics ◽

Imperfect Information ◽

Intent Recognition ◽

System Architectures ◽

Wide Range ◽

Trading Agent ◽

Context Aware System ◽

Plan Activity ◽

And Robotics

The AAAI-13 Workshop Program, a part of the 27th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, was held Sunday and Monday, July 14‚Äì15, 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue Hotel in Bellevue, Washington, USA. The program included 12 workshops covering a wide range of topics in artificial intelligence, including Activity Context-Aware System Architectures (WS-13-05); Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Methods in Computational Biology (WS-13-06); Combining Constraint Solving with Mining and Learning (WS-13-07); Computer Poker and Imperfect Information (WS-13-08); Expanding the Boundaries of Health Informatics Using Artificial Intelligence (WS-13-09); Intelligent Robotic Systems (WS-13-10); Intelligent Techniques for Web Personalization and Recommendation (WS-13-11); Learning Rich Representations from Low-Level Sensors (WS-13-12); Plan, Activity, and Intent Recognition (WS-13-13); Space, Time, and Ambient Intelligence (WS-13-14); Trading Agent Design and Analysis (WS-13-15); and Statistical Relational Artificial Intelligence (WS-13-16).

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Mapping Trends in Pedagogical Approaches and Learning Technologies: Perspectives from the Canadian, International, and Military Education Contexts

Canadian Journal of Higher Education ◽

10.47678/cjhe.v46i2.186043 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 46 (2) ◽

pp. 127-147

Author(s):

Grazia Scoppio ◽

Leigha Covell

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Postsecondary Education ◽

Teaching And Learning ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Military Education ◽

Learning Technologies ◽

Canadian Armed Forces ◽

Technological Advances ◽

The Military ◽

Pedagogical Approaches

Increased technological advances, coupled with new learners’ needs, have created new realities for higher education contexts. This study explored and mapped trends in pedagogical approaches and learning technologies in postsecondary education and identified how these innovations are affecting teaching and learning practices in higher education settings, particularly for the Canadian Armed Forces education system. A qualitative research methodology was employed including a comprehensive review of Canadian and international literature, an environmental scan of Canadian Armed Forces educational institutions, and consultations with experts and practitioners in the field of military education. The research findings shed light on trends in pedagogies and learning technologies in higher education as well as on the presence of these trends in the military educational system. In addition, the findings consider the necessity for a corresponding level of preparedness to meet the needs of diverse learners in the future. This study informs both the field of higher education and the field of military education.

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The Case for Ethical AI in the Military

The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of AI ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190067397.013.43 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 683-702

Author(s):

Jai Galliott ◽

Jason Scholz

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Deep Learning ◽

Armed Forces ◽

World War ◽

Full Spectrum ◽

The Public ◽

Lethal Force ◽

Existential Risk ◽

Black Boxes ◽

The Military

This chapter addresses the military promise of artificial intelligence (AI), which is increasing along with advances in deep learning, neural networks, and robotics. The influence of AI will be felt across the full spectrum of armed conflict—from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance through to the offensive and defensive employment of lethal force. This is to say that AI is less of a weapon than it is a military enabler, and yet the public still liken the notion of AI in the military context with killer robots, arising from the fears made public by numerous academic, business, and government leaders about the existential risk posed by an approaching singularity and the belief that AI could trigger the next world war. The chapter then considers what constitutes militarized “artificial intelligence”; the justifications for employing AI considering the limits of deep learning and the human role in alleged “black boxes”; the wider moral advantages, disadvantages, and risks of using AI in the military domain; and the potential implications for the way in which the armed forces plan, train, and fight. In doing so, it advances the concept of ethical AI as that which yields humanitarian benefits and differentiates between minimally and maximally just versions of said AI

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Impact of Canadian Armed Forces Veterans’ Mental Health Problems on the Family During the Military to Civilian Transition

Military Behavioral Health ◽

10.1080/21635781.2019.1644260 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 148-158 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Heidi Cramm ◽

Deborah Norris ◽

Kelly Dean Schwartz ◽

Linna Tam-Seto ◽

Ashley Williams ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Health Problems ◽

Canadian Armed Forces ◽

The Family ◽

The Military

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Intelligent MAS in System Engineering and Robotics

Machine Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-60960-818-7.ch204 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 175-182

Author(s):

G. Nicolás Marichal ◽

Evelio J. González

Keyword(s):

Artificial Intelligence ◽

Health Care ◽

Multiagent Systems ◽

Single Agent ◽

System Engineering ◽

Complex Task ◽

User Training ◽

Wide Range ◽

Mail Address ◽

And Robotics

The concept of agent has been successfully used in a wide range of applications such as Robotics, e-commerce, agent-assisted user training, military transport or health-care. The origin of this concept can be located in 1977, when Carl Hewitt proposed the idea of an interactive object called actor. This actor was defined as a computational agent, which has a mail address and a behaviour (Hewitt, 1977). Actors receive messages from other actors and carry out their tasks in a concurrent way. It is difficult that a single agent could be sufficient to carry out a relatively complex task. The usual approach consists of a society of agents - called Multiagent Systems (MAS) -, which communicate and collaborate among them and they are coordinated when pursuing a goal. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the aspects related to the application of MAS to System Engineering and Robotics, focusing on those approaches that combine MAS with other Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques.

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