Social and ethical issues of the military use of Artificial Intelligence and effects on democracies

Nowadays, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly important, and this is no exception in the military, because, thanks to machine-learning algorithms, computers can now perform complex tasks semi-independently. In military operations, the leaders are forced to risk, and in some cases sacrifice, human lives. The question arises as to what happens when command decisions are made by AI. The author has already addressed the issue of the military application of AI in several publications. In this paper, the social and ethical issues involved in military applications and other human aspects of AI have been some of the subjects of the investigation. The subsequent sections summarise the use of AI, for military purposes in particular, from the perspective of its potential impact on democracy. The article concludes with an overview of the international state of regulation of AI, without claiming to be exhaustive, but with a particular focus on the rules governing military use.