AI Lund Lunch Seminar: AI in the Age of Great Power Competition: US Defense Strategy and the Replicator Initiative

Topic: AI in the Age of Great Power Competition: US Defense Strategy and the Replicator Initiative

When: 2 October at 12.00-13.15

Where: Online - link by registration

Speakers: Tom Watts, Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, Department of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy, Royal Holloway University of London

Moderator: Bibi Imre-Millei Doctoral student, Department of Political Science, Lund University

Spoken language: English

Abstract

Since the last years of Barack Obama’s presidency, the principal focus of American defense policy has shifted from the Global War on Terror toward great power competition with the People’s Republic of China. This talk examines how this process has impacted the Department of Defense’s (DoD) development of military applications of AI. It does so in three stages. The first section introduces the DoD’s definition of AI and some of the different military applications of these technologies. The second section explains the focus of the ongoing Replicator Initiative and its relationship to the Pentagon’s concerns about the People’s Liberation Army military efforts. The third and final section reflects on what the Replicator Initiative can tell us about the role of technology in both today's era of great power competition and the American way of war. This talk will consequently be of interest to anyone wanting to know more about how US defence planners are responding to two of the most significant geopolitical challenges of the twenty-first century: rapid advances in AI associated technologies and the rise of China.

Bio

Dr. Tom F.A. Watts is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow based at Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL). His current project examines the relationship between the concept of great power competition, the processes associated with change and continuity in US foreign policy, and military applications of AI. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher on the AUTONORMS project based at the University of Southern Denmark (2020-2024), a Teaching Fellow at RHUL (2018-2020, 2021-2022), and a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Kent (2014-2018). His research has been published in leading International Relations journals including Cooperation and Conflict, Defence Studies, Geopolitics, and International Politics, among others. Alongside Professor Ingvild Bode, Tom has also published policy reports examining how the operation of two existing categories of autonomous weapon systems – air defense systems and loitering munitions – has impacted emerging practices and social norms of human control over the use of force.

Registration

To participate is free of charge, but please sign up at https://www.ai.lu.se/2024-10-02/registration and we will send you an access link at the zoom platform.