TUCSON, Ariz. (13News) – Sen. Mark Kelly introduced two bills Friday aimed at preserving human judgment and responsibility as artificial intelligence is integrated into military operations.
The Ultimate Human Responsibility in Defense Systems Act would establish requirements to ensure that autonomous weapons systems are developed, tested, and used with meaningful human oversight of the use of force. Rep. Suhas Subrahmanyam, a Virginia Democrat, has introduced a similar bill in the House.
The Fighter AI Readiness and Readiness Act, introduced with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, directs the Department of Defense to assess how the integration of AI will impact warfighter effectiveness, skill retention, and operational readiness.
Human control of weapons
The bill builds on Kelly’s AI for America roadmap released last year.
“AI is already improving the capabilities of our military, but we must be smart about how we integrate it to keep Americans safe,” Kelly said. “We can’t lose the critical skills that make our military the best in the world, and we can’t introduce systems that can make life-or-death decisions without human responsibility.”
The Ultimate Human Responsibility in Defense Systems Act codifies the principles of Department of Defense Directive 3000.09. It establishes a Department of Defense-wide requirement for meaningful human judgment for autonomous weapons systems and artificial intelligence capabilities.
The bill defines “ultimate human responsibility” as ensuring that human commanders and operators can understand, supervise, intervene or halt the use of force, and maintain compliance with U.S. and international law.
It directs the Department of Defense to develop technical, operational, and organizational guidelines governing the use of military AI and the illegal applications of AI. The bill also creates a central Department of Defense database to track system failures, unintended actions, near misses, failed human-machine interactions, and target actions inconsistent with commander intent.
“This bill ensures that human operators can monitor, disable and stop autonomous weapons at any time,” Subrahmanyam said.
Focus on skill maintenance
The WARP Act directs the Department of Defense to assess how the integration of AI will impact warfighter readiness, skill retention, and operational effectiveness. As AI-enabled systems become more widely used, we need to identify military roles where critical skills need to be maintained.
The bill also requires the Department of Defense to determine how to maintain independent judgment and proficiency when AI systems are unavailable or compromised, and to recommend updates to training, doctrine, and readiness policies.
“In future conflicts, our military advantage will depend on our ability to leverage AI wherever possible and, just as importantly, on our ability to adapt and perform when our AI systems fail,” Cotton said.
The bill addresses concerns that adversaries such as China and Russia are attempting to disrupt and disable the U.S. military’s AI systems.
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