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United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)

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With over 40 years of experience, UNIDIR is an autonomous institution within the United Nations that conducts independent research on disarmament and related problems; particularly international security issues.

Our specialized focus on disarmament and arms control sets us apart from other think tanks. Our status within the United Nations system enables us to engage with and support Member State deliberations. Our role is to provide ideas and advice and to facilitate dialogue that can advance multilateral arms control and disarmament.

Description of Activities on AI

Project 1: Security and Technology – AI and Autonomy Workstream

The UNIDIR Security and Technology Programme’s (SecTec) AI and Autonomy workstream conducts original research and convenes international events to promote a fact-based, technologically sound dialogue between policymakers, the tech community, the private sector and other stakeholders working on AI technology and its implications for peace and security. This project directly supports the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Group of Government Experts on Emerging Technologies in the Area of Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (GGE on LAWS) in its efforts to advance multilateral debate on concepts such as human control and responsibility, the human-machine interface, and the predictability and reliability of AI-enabled conventional weapon systems (among other considerations). This project also seeks to address considerations related to broader applications of AI in military systems—particularly in decision-making support tools, cyber operations, and command and control— which themselves raise novel concerns about understandability, reliability and predictability; the potential for unintended interactions or outcomes; and susceptibility of these systems to manipulation. The rate of technological progress in this space requires, as the Secretary-General has described it, a “broader consideration of the impacts of introducing autonomy and artificial intelligence into other military systems, and how effective governance and risk mitigation can be achieved”. The implications of AI for digital, physical and even political security require a fundamental reassessment and, in some instances, re-equipping of the multilateral arms control toolbox.

UNIDIR’s AI and autonomy workstream seeks to a) support understanding of the implications of military uses of AI in and beyond weapon systems and b) explore the options available for AI governance and arms control. In addition to continuing its work on autonomy in weapon and military systems, in 2022, UNIDIR adopted a new research agenda on AI and Autonomy that focuses on building an understanding of different types of AI, their different purposes and military uses, the broader international security implications of advancements in AI, convergence between AI and other new and emerging technologies and issues of AI governance.

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Related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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