“Common Good Governance in the Age of Military Artificial Intelligence” Professor Denise Garcia from Northeastern University, Boston
Center for War Studies Annual Lecture
“Common Good Governance in the Age of Military Artificial Intelligence”
Professor Denise Garcia from Northeastern University, Boston
Date: Monday, 10 October 15.00-16.30
Location: U82, Odense campus
Presenting her forthcoming book (Oxford University Press 2023), Prof. Denise Garcia’s lecture examines the complexities entailed in establishing a global framework to govern the military use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by proposing inclusive and humane ways to forge cooperation. Prof. Garcia introduces three novel humanist conceptions: common good governance, transnational networked cooperation, and humanity’s security. By exploring all the entities and actors involved in seeking answers, the lecture surveys the threats to peace in the shifting world order by investigating the current patterns and trends in the global use of, and investment in militarizing AI. Prof. Garcia weaves in an insider participant-observer focus on the decade-long high-level diplomatic attempts to set limits in autonomy in weapons systems – known as ‘killer robots’. In addition to highlighting the United Nations’ key role in such global governance processes, Prof. Garcia also assesses the role of civil society, scientists, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the private sector, the nuclear-armed states’ geopolitical pursuit of superiority in the realm of AI, the European Union, and developing countries. This is all part of the quest to understand what all this means for world order, addressing other cooperation problems, and the search for the common good of humanity.
Denise Garcia, a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies of the University of Geneva, is a professor at Northeastern University in Boston and a founding faculty member of the Institute for Experiential Robotics. She is formerly a member of the International Panel for the Regulation of Autonomous Weapons (2017-2022), currently of the Research Board of the Toda Peace Institute (Tokyo) and the Institute for Economics and Peace (Sydney), Vice-chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, and of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. She was the Nobel Peace Institute Fellow in Oslo in 2017. A multiple teaching award-winner, her recent publications appeared in Nature, Foreign Affairs, and other top journals.