Responsibility in the Age of AI, Drones, and Hybrid Threats

Dr. Gernot Meier, director of the Protestant Academy of Baden, hosted the chair of the Committee on Security and Defense in the European Parliament, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, and Gerhard Schreiber, a Protestant theologian and professor of social and technological ethics at Helmut Schmidt University/University of the German Armed Forces in Hamburg, to the Offenburg campus to discuss the following question with the approximately 100 attendees: “Who Will Control Tomorrow’s War?—Drones, AI, and Hybrid Threats Between Defense, Escalation, and Responsibility.” Prof. Dr. Tobias Kreilos from the Institute for Unmanned Aerial Systems (IUAS) provided technical context at the event, held in cooperation with the Institute for Machine Learning and Analytics (IMLA) at Hochschule Offenburg.

“We are helping to shape AI and drone technologies, and with that comes greater responsibility,” explained Rector Prof. Dr. Stephan Trahasch in his opening remarks, outlining the University’s role. Anyone who writes algorithms and develops autonomous systems must also grapple with ethical questions and help shape the rules. For this reason, ethics is always an integral part of teaching.

In a video clip, a Ukrainian military official then illustrated just how rapidly drone technology has evolved during the course of the war and what significance this has for all of Europe. In her keynote address, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann then highlighted just how extremely complicated it has become to answer the question of who will control the wars of tomorrow. She couldn’t say either, the Member of the European Parliament explained right at the outset. But social responsibility does not end at the backyard fence. Therefore, it is important that people be empowered from the day they are born, through information and education, to recognize manipulation. And so it is equally important that the topic be discussed at Universities as well. Gerhard Schreiber emphasized that technological development cannot be reversed. An ethical review of every step in development, testing, and procurement is therefore essential—the “seatbelt,” so to speak. To achieve this, people must be empowered to make the appropriate decisions and take responsibility. For unlike tasks, responsibility cannot be automated.  In his remarks on drone technology and research, Tobias Kreilos also made it clear that military and civilian uses can no longer be separated today. The reasons for this are the low costs and public accessibility of hardware and software, control systems, and single-board computers.

In the concluding discussion—which was brief due to the late hour—the topics included whether the low cost of drones lowers ethical boundaries or whether democracies are at a disadvantage in the event of a confrontation. Further comments from the audience addressed technical details and the need for a different linguistic approach to the topic.