Research Proposal

Jared Clabough
Independent Research
2015-2016

Automatic War: The ethics of Autonomous Weapons

Introduction:
Autonomous weapons are a concern to the safety and ethics of war; safety does sound
like an ironic term to use when describing war but when planning missions and battles civilian
casualties must always be considered. To raise awareness of this issue a video will be created to
show the ethical issues behind autonomous weapons. In the end high school students will be
more aware of the issues that they will have to deal with when they are adults.
Background:
Artificial intelligence (AI) as a concept has been around for a long time even if it was not
called that. The idea of AI originates from the Ancient Greeks. They had myths about inanimate
objects gaining thought. Ancient Egyptian and Chinese built automatons, machines that move
like humans. These ideas and concepts were later expanded on by classical philosophers who
conceptualized the idea of the brain working like a system. The first time artificial intelligence
was used as a term was at the 1956 conference at Dartmouth College, when artificial intelligence
was created as subject of computer science (Lewis, 2014).The advancement of this field has been
a lot slower than predicted but it has also been broadened as a field to encompass more subjects
and ideas. At this point the field has advanced far enough to be incorporated into military
weapons (Lewis, 2014). Many countries have been studying the capabilities of these machines,
however there is much debate over the ethics of these machines.
The artificial intelligence field has expanded much since its creation since 1956 and its
uses have been prevalent in everything from video games to the army. Artificial intelligence has
not fully been implemented into the army yet the next step would be the creation of weapons
controlled by AI known as autonomous weapons. However there have been quite a few
precursors that are being used in armies around the world. These include sentry guns, drones, and
certain targeting systems. These weapons are nearly there when it comes to being autonomous
the only thing that keeps them from qualifying as being autonomous is that fact that they still
require input from people (Garcia, 2015).
Rationale:
In these days there are always stories about one international event that could lead to
disaster and war. This prospect is very daunting considering how much our militaries have been
advancing the weapons they use finding more and more deadly weapons to use that can
circumvent one national treaty or another. One big question is should these AI controlled

weaponized machines be used.There is arguments for both sides supporters using arguments like
it will save the lives of our fellow country men while the naysayers do not wish autonomous
machines to be able to kill any person or population that is considered to be exuding aggressive
behavior. Either way if these weapons would to be used they would revolutionize war changing
the world and how wars are fought down to the core strategies.

Research Methodology:
Research Question - How will using/incorporating Artificial Intelligence into the military affect
the number of casualties and deaths in war.
Research Hypothesis - Using/incorporating artificial intelligence into the military will decrease
the number of casualties and deaths in a war.
Research Design Model - The design model that will be used is the qualitative method of
descriptive research. THis will be used because the issue is a matter of ethics so it cannot be
researched and explained using numbers. The research may also include some historical research
to look into the effects that other weapons had on the battlefield.
Data Collection -The proposal for the projects data collection is an interview with 5 or more
professionals in the field of artificial intelligence or computer science. The data collection will
be done through interviews because the topic is based around the ethics and moral values of the
people involved in the situation. The thoughts of the professionals and how they feel about the
topic of autonomous weapons will give good and thought provoking ideas about the positives
and negatives of these weapons.
This project will be based upon the findings of other researchers and drawing together
their research to draw conclusions based upon it. The data and research collected will be taken
and used to form cohesive arguments against the use of autonomous weapons.
Product Objectives:
The research will be used to create a video targeted towards high school students to
whom the creation of these weapons will be a major topic when they are adults and the
technology will be very close to completion if not completed by then. The research will be
presented as a video because in this day and age the children are surrounded by technology and it
would be good to approach the audience through a source of media they are more attached to.
Logistics:
The resources needed for this project are print, human, and media. To complete the
product the use of recording devices including audio and visual. Then finally for the video

editing devices are required. Then to present it, permission from the teacher of the class will be
required to show it.
Timeline: in third quarter, timeline will be added that outlines the data collection, product
development, and audience distribution.

Approval:

___________________
Student Signature

___________________
G/T resource Teacher Signature

___________________
Mentor / Advisor Signature

Works Cited:
Garcia, D. (2015, April 25). Killer robots: Towards the loss of humanity. Retrieved
November 9, 2015, from http://www.ethicsandinternationalaffairs.org/2015/killer-robotstoward-the-loss-of-humanity/
Lewis, T. (2014, December 4). A brief history of artificial intelligence. Retrieved October
13, 2015, from http://www.livescience.com/49007-history-of-artificial-intelligence.html