Normative Epistemology for Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
Susannah Kate Devitt

TL;DR
This paper explores how epistemic models can guide the design, evaluation, and deployment of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, emphasizing systematic review, justification under uncertainty, and transparency in ethical AI development.
Contribution
It introduces a Bayesian virtue epistemology framework to improve justification, transparency, and systematic review processes for LAWS based on epistemic principles.
Findings
Proposes a Bayesian virtue epistemology for LAWS
Suggests epistemic models improve review and transparency
Highlights role of epistemology in ethical AI deployment
Abstract
The rise of human-information systems, cybernetic systems, and increasingly autonomous systems requires the application of epistemic frameworks to machines and human-machine teams. This chapter discusses higher-order design principles to guide the design, evaluation, deployment, and iteration of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) based on epistemic models. Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Epistemic models consider the role of accuracy, likelihoods, beliefs, competencies, capabilities, context, and luck in the justification of actions and the attribution of knowledge. The aim is not to provide ethical justification for or against LAWS, but to illustrate how epistemological frameworks can be used in conjunction with moral apparatus to guide the design and deployment of future systems. The models discussed in this chapter aim to make Article 36 reviews of LAWS systematic,…
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