Risks and Control Measures for Assuring the Safety of Trustworthy Autonomous Weapon Systems

Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS) represent a significant advancement in the military domain, offering potential benefits in precision, speed, and reduced human casualties, while simultaneously raising critical concerns regarding safety, ethics, and international security implications and consequences. While previous studies have extensively explored the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of AWS, there is a notable gap in addressing safety through the lens of building AWS as trustworthy systems. This article aims to bridge this gap by presenting a systematic analysis of the safety challenges associated with AWS and proposing robust control measures to address these concerns from a trustworthiness perspective. On this behalf, this research critically examines the inherent socio-technical risks of AWS, including potential system malfunctions, unintended engagements, ethical decision-making failures, and vulnerability to cyber attacks, evaluating these risks in the context of their potential impacts on combatants, civilians, and global stability. In response to these identified risks, a range of control measures designed to assure and enhance AWS safety, including advanced fail-safe mechanisms, multi-layered human oversight protocols, adaptive ethical decision-making Artificial Intelligence-based algorithms, and robust cybersecurity frameworks is proposed. Moreover, this research emphasizes the important role of meaningful human control as a fundamental safety mechanism, exploring methods to maintain effective human oversight without compromising the operational advantages of autonomy. The findings reveal the importance of a proactive, risk-based approach to AWS safety, highlighting the need for international collaboration in establishing standardized safety benchmarks and certification processes. This research contributes with valuable insights to the ongoing discourses on responsible innovation in military technology, offering evidence-based recommendations for policymakers, engineers, and ethicists working to ensure the safe and ethical development of AWS as trustworthy systems.