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Media, Law & Policy

Hon. James E. Baker Publishes 鈥楾he Centaur鈥檚 Dilemma: National Security Law for the Coming AI Revolution鈥�

Wednesday, December 9, 2020, By Martin Walls
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College of LawfacultyMaxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
James Baker

James Baker

Of all the areas that may benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) or be damaged by it, national security might be the most important. 鈥淪ecurity risk will come first, as states鈥攁nd perhaps other actors鈥攔ace to develop and defend against the advantages of AI-enabled intelligence, weapons and decision-making,鈥� writes the Hon. James E. Baker, director of the 黑料不打烊 Institute for Security Policy and Law (SPL), in 鈥�,鈥� newly published by the Brookings Institution Press (Dec. 1, 2020).

鈥淭he Centaur鈥檚 Dilemma鈥� is written to help guide policymakers, lawyers and technology experts as they deal with the legal, ethical and practical questions that will arise when using AI to plan and carry out the actions required for the nation鈥檚 defense.

Baker, an expert in national security law and a professor in the College of Law and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, writes that having an AI advantage comes with risk: 鈥淥perators may not understand the technology they are using, including its limitations, its strengths or its faults. They may not rely on it enough or they may rely on it too much.鈥�

The U.S. Department of Defense has sought to mitigate risk by requiring 鈥渁 human in the loop.鈥�

book cover“The Defense Department calls this a centaur model of employment,” writes Baker, “but instead of being part-human and part-horse, this centaur is part-human and part-machine, the machine augmenting human capacity with the human seeking to understand and control the machine鈥檚 capabilities.鈥�

Adopting a realistic approach in assessing how the law can be used, or even misused, to regulate this new technology, Baker covers鈥攁mong other topics鈥攏ational security process, constitutional law, the law of armed conflict, arms control and academic and corporate ethics. Using his own background as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, Baker examines potential points of contention and litigation in an area where the law is still evolving and might not yet provide clear and certain answers.

Reviewing the book, Avril Haines鈥攁n SPL Distinguished Fellow who was recently nominated by President-Elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68 to the role of director of national intelligence鈥攚rites that 鈥�’The Centaur鈥檚 Dilemma鈥� is a must-read for anyone interested in national security and technology. James Baker provides an extraordinary and timely roadmap for how to think about the intersection of the law and artificial intelligence. What is exceptional about this work is his focus on how to use the law as a tool for making wiser and more strategic decisions regarding the use of AI in national security.”

  • Author

Martin Walls

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