The United States, Canada, Portugal, Bahrain and Austria will spearhead a one-year program to seek new safety standards for military use of artificial intelligence and automated systems.
Breaking Defense reported that the countries were chosen during the inaugural plenary meeting of delegates from 46 out of the 53 countries that endorsed the U.S. Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy.
The over 150 attendees of the meeting, held from March 19 to 20 in College Park, Maryland, also included observers from 14 countries yet to endorse the U.S. declaration. The conference will reconvene in 2025 to discuss the declaration’s implementation guidelines, which the five lead countries will work on under three main group tasks.
The first assignment covers assurance, with the United States and Bahrain as the working group co-leads who will explore guidelines for the declaration’s vital principles. including AI military uses, testing and safeguards.
The second task, assigned to Canada and Portugal, focuses on the personnel and institutional elements to ensure military understanding of AI capabilities and limitations.
Austria heads the third group tasked with AI oversight measures, such as legal reviews on military AI’s compliance with international laws.