What
Session on “Responsible Use of AI in Armed Conflict: Upholding Respect for International Law”
Forum
REAIM (Responsible Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain) Summit 2026
Location
A Coruña, Spain
Date
4 February 2026
Abstract
This side event — co-organized by Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and the Government of Switzerland — will examine how international law, in particular international humanitarian law (IHL), applies to the development and use of artificial intelligence in armed conflicts. Building on the outcomes of the REAIM Summits in The Hague (2023) and Seoul (2024), including the Blueprint for Action, the session responds to the shared recognition that responsible military AI governance now requires greater attention to implementation.
The discussion will address a range of AI-assisted military applications relevant to armed conflict and the legal questions they raise under IHL. Those applications include aspects of targeting, weapons functions, cyber and electronic warfare, intelligence analysis, detention-related processes, de-mining, and humanitarian action. Particular attention will be given to IHL obligations that protect civilians, fighters hors de combat, and civilian objects.
Beyond restating applicable rules, the session will explore how IHL rests on certain assumptions about how decisions are formed, information is assessed, and judgment is exercised by humans acting on behalf of parties. The panel will consider how reliance on AI may influence those assumptions in practice — for example, by shaping how information is presented, how risk is evaluated, or how discretion is exercised — and what this means for upholding IHL. In addition to identifying challenges and concerns, the discussion will examine whether reliance on AI may raise prospects for enhancing respect for IHL, perhaps including through improved information management, precautionary decision-making, civilian-harm mitigation, and humanitarian services.
The session will situate these questions within existing legal frameworks and multilateral discussions, such as by linking the discussion to Point 7 of the REAIM Blueprint, relevant United Nations General Assembly resolutions on AI in the military domain, and the Guiding Principles affirmed by High Contracting Parties to the CCW GGE on LAWS, including the continued applicability of IHL and the requirement that accountability remain with humans rather than machines.
Moderator:
Michael Siegrist, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
Speakers:
Tabitha Bonney, United Kingdom Ministry of Defence
Prof. Jessica Dorsey, Utrecht University
Dustin A. Lewis, Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict