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VOL. 12, ISSUE 1 (2026)
Reassessing international legal norms on autonomy and accountability in the laws of war in the age of Artificial Intelligence
Authors
Muthulakshmi A
Abstract
The advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in
modern warfare signals a profound transformation in both the conduct of
hostilities and the interpretation of legal norms governing armed conflict.
Autonomous weapon systems, which can operate with varying degrees of human
oversight, pose complex questions for international humanitarian law (IHL)
particularly regarding the principles of distinction, proportionality, and
military necessity. These technologies disrupt traditional accountability
paradigms by diffusing responsibility across military commanders, states, and
private developers, thereby challenging established doctrines of state
responsibility and individual criminal liability. This paper interrogates
whether the existing corpus of IHL, codified primarily in the Geneva
Conventions and Additional Protocol I, remains adequate to address the ethical
and legal dilemmas raised by AI-enabled hostilities. Through a doctrinal and
comparative approach, it evaluates treaty provisions, customary norms, and
interpretive mechanisms such as the Martens Clause and Article 36 weapons reviews.
It further examines contested state practices and soft-law initiatives emerging
from multilateral forums, notably the UN Group of Governmental Experts on
Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems. By situating this inquiry within
contemporary conflicts including the Russia, Ukraine war and hostilities in
Gaza. The paper highlights concrete manifestations of these challenges, such as
the opacity of algorithmic targeting and the evidentiary hurdles confronting
accountability mechanisms. Rather than advocating for wholesale normative
overhaul, it advances a recalibration strategy: reaffirming enduring IHL
principles while supplementing them with AI-specific safeguards, transparency
obligations, and verification mechanisms. In doing so, the study contributes to
an evolving discourse on aligning humanitarian imperatives with the realities
of technologically mediated warfare.
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Pages:266-269
How to cite this article:
Muthulakshmi A "Reassessing international legal norms on autonomy and accountability in the laws of war in the age of Artificial Intelligence". International Journal of Law, Vol 12, Issue 1, 2026, Pages 266-269
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