The Military Transformation Programme (MTP) at RSIS, the Norwegian Institute of Defence Studies (IFS) and Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (ISPK) jointly organised a workshop on “Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and the Future of Defence: The Role of Ethics, Norms, and Governance” on 11 and 12 November 2019.

Held at Hotel Jen Tanglin, the workshop converged the varying emerging perspectives from academic, military, and industry sectors on the advances and challenges of artificial intelligence (AI) in the military and defence realms. Critical new topics included not only mapping the trajectory of technical developments in AI and autonomous weapons systems, but more importantly the ongoing debates on the strategic relevance of AI ethics and norms. The workshop also featured policy-oriented breakout sessions, in which participants discussed how these technologies might shape the future character of war, how to balance rapid development of AI with ethics, safety, and reliability, and what Singapore’s AI future strategy should be.