What is...the Role of Automation in War?

As artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly moves onto the battlefield, the nature of war itself is being transformed. How are automated systems reshaping the conduct of war, and what happens when decision-making is partially or fully delegated to machines? To explore the role of automation in contemporary warfare and the ethical questions raised by the increasing use of AI in military contexts, we are joined by Elke Schwarz, Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University of London. Her work sits at the intersection of ethics, technology, politics, and warfare, with a particular focus on emerging military technologies such as AI, autonomous weapon systems, drones, and robotics. She is the author of Death Machines: The Ethics of Violent Technologies (Manchester University Press), and her research on military AI and autonomous systems has been widely published in leading international journals and outlets. She also serves as Vice-Chair of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, is an Associate of the Imperial War Museum, and a Royal Society of Arts Fellow.

Professor Elke Schwarz, Profile

Schwarz, E. (2018). Death machines. The ethics of violent technologies. Manchester University Press.

Schwarz, E. (2025). "Engineering Moral Failure? The Challenges of Algorithmic Ethics for Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems". In The Realities of Autonomous Weapons. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press. Retrieved Jun 7, 2026, from https://doi.org/10.51952/9781529237191.ch013

Schwarz E. (2025). From blitzkrieg to blitzscaling: Assessing the impact of venture capital dynamics on military norms. Finance and Society. Published online 2025:1-24. doi:10.1017/fas.2024.18

Schwarz, E. (2025) ‘The Hacker Way: Moral Decision Logics with Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems’. In: Glaser, H., & Wong, P. (Eds.). (2025). Governing the Future: Digitalization, Artificial Intelligence, Dataism (1st ed.). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003226406

Schwarz, E. (2024). Trolleyology: Algorithmic Ethics for Killer Robots. In: Handbook on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803926728.00011

Schwarz, E. (2024). Moral maze: ethics for cyber weapon systems. In: Stevens, T. and Devanny, J. (2024). Research Handbook on Cyberwarfare. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803924854.00030

Renic N. & Schwarz E. (2023). Crimes of Dispassion: Autonomous Weapons and the Moral Challenge of Systematic Killing. Ethics & International Affairs. 37(3):321-343. doi:10.1017/S0892679423000291

Schwarz, E. (2021). Autonomous Weapons Systems, Artificial Intelligence, and the Problem of Meaningful Human Control. Philosophical Journal of Conflict and Violence. https://doi.org/10.22618/TP.PJCV.20215.1.139004