At a U.S. Air Force Academy commencement speech on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance called for human control over lethal decision-making in the U.S. military, endorsing calls made by the pope in an encyclical earlier this week. In his speech, the Vice President stated that, “Decisions over life and death must be made by humans and not machines.” The Vice President’s remarks come as Congress debates provisions regarding AI’s use in autonomous weapons systems in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.
“This is a 101 on how to talk about AI at a commencement speech,” said ARI President Brad Carson. “The White House is clearly siding with the American public on this issue. Over three-quarters of Americans agree that the men and women in our Armed Forces should be the ones to make the final call when exercising lethal force. Congress has an opportunity to back up the Vice President as they formulate this year’s National Defense Authorization Act and create rules around AI’s deployment in military weapon systems.”
Earlier this week, in response to the release of the House version of the National Defense Authorization Act, ARI called on lawmakers to strengthen the AI provisions in the bill. ARI cautioned that the current draft does not yet meet the scale of the technological transformation reshaping modern warfare and national security.
In March, ARI published a new national poll finding that an overwhelming majority of American voters share concerns about the use of AI for autonomous weapons without human oversight. The survey finds that 75% of Americans agree that decisions about using lethal force in war should involve meaningful and substantive human judgment rather than being left entirely to AI systems.
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Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to policy advocacy in the public interest, focused on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Learn more at ARI.us.
