Horizon Scan of Emerging Issues at the Intersection of National Security, Artificial Intelligence, and Human Performance Enhancement
Horizon scanning is intended to identify opportunities and threats associated with technology, regulatory, and social change. Here, we report the results of a new horizon scan based on inputs of an international group of 33 participants, focusing on future issues arising from the military use of artificial intelligence (AI) for augmenting human performance. The final list of 12 issues includes topics spanning from the political (educating and training individuals to accept and work with AI), to the regulatory (issues of consent to human-AI teaming and hybridization), to security (the hackability of neural devices that connect to AI), to philosophical (the nature and phenomenology of brain-to-brain interfaces). The early identification of such issues is relevant to researchers, policymakers, military practitioners, and the wider public.
Authors
- Robert Sparrow (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6093-9456)
- Frédéric Gilbert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0524-8649)
- Laure Tabouy (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6789-7428)
- Joseph A. Stramondo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1890-7164)
- Nariyoshi Shinomiya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1497-487X)
- Michelle Pham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1772-9159)
- Nir Eisikovits (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8521-2576)
- Ian Shane Peebles (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4759-1149)
- Gérard de Boisboissel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-9777-1368)
- Jacob Earl
- Nicholas G. Evans (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3330-0224)
- Blake Hereth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9338-0417)
- Ilya Rudyak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1259-9842)
- David Whetham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8269-0006)
- Maria Brincker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0871-9509)
- Paul Tubig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7967-4176)
- D. L. Lambert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6415-3175)
- Martin C. M. Bricknell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5080-0095)
- Adam Henschke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2956-0883)
- Jovana Davidovic (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8998-5496)
- Jonathan D. Moreno (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5262-1621)
- William D. Casebeer
- Neil Shortland (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9496-4852)
- Shira Pindyck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5259-219X)
- Sahar Latheef (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3888-6145)
- Daniel Feldman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1644-7504)
- James Hughes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5380-6345)
- Jeremy Davis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8562-8774)
- Vincent Guérin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5572-7480)
- Lourdes Garcı́a (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7737-6450)
Institutions
- Boston University (US)
- Australian National University (AU)
- University of Tasmania (AU)
- University of Massachusetts Lowell (US)
- Australian Research Council (AU)
- Western Michigan University (US)
- University of Namur (BE)
- École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr (FR)
- University of Georgia (US)
- King's College London (GB)
- Georgetown University (US)
- United States Naval Academy (US)
- Aix-Marseille Université (FR)
- San Diego State University (US)
- Ethics and Public Policy Center (US)
- Université catholique de l'ouest (FR)
- University of Massachusetts Boston (US)
- Riverside City College (US)
- Georgia Southern University (US)
- National Defense Medical College Hospital (JP)
- King's College School (GB)
- Thai Health Promotion Foundation (TH)
- National Defense Medical College (JP)
- Arizona State University (US)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
- University of Twente (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Science and Engineering Ethics
- Published
- 2025-12-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-025-00546-z
- Primary Topic
- Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00