Globalization MA Alumna Branka Marijan warns about the dangers of lethal autonomous robots

Back in 2017, when Branka Marijan (Class of ’09) was attending UN meetings about lethal autonomous weapons (LAWs), she was surprised by the lack of urgency.

“It wasn’t seen as a big risk,” the Globalization MA alumna said. “It was seen as futuristic. Even some states with big, modern militaries said they had no plans to use this tech and we were wasting our time researching them.”

But, at a side event in the same session, there was a screening of the film Slaughterbots, which depicts small AI-piloted drones packed with a lethal amount of explosive.

Marijan remembers the stunned hush that descended on the session. It had dawned on the audience that LAWs didn’t belong in the realm of science fiction. They were here now.

That formed the basis of Marijan’s talk when she revisited McMaster in March, invited by the school of Globalization and Wilson College to talk about the implications of this new technology on global security.

Marijan enrolled in the Globalization MA program in 2009 after completing a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies in 2008. She said the courses played a key role in helping her reach her current position as a senior researcher at Project Ploughshares, a Canadian peace research institute focused on disarmament and international security.

“McMaster was foundational to my professional and personal development,” she said. “I was so lucky to attend.”

The MA, she said, was a space to explore what interested her, with the interdisciplinary focus meaning she had access to a broad range of classes and topics.

“Everyone talks about the importance of interdisciplinarity, but the school of Globalization practises it,” she said.

After completing a PhD at Balsillie School of International Affairs, Branka eventually rose to where she is now, and it’s a role in which she feels at home, even if the reality of it sometimes catches her by surprise.

“I didn’t think, when I was finishing at McMaster, that I would be at the UN talking to Brazilian diplomats about autonomous weapons!”

Alongside sage career advice, Marijan also spoke about the current dangers of LAWs and the lack of adequate regulation to address them.

And those dangers are becoming more real every day. The battlefields of Ukraine and Gaza are testing grounds for these new weapons. In Gaza, the Israeli army can use AI to identify 100 targets a day, up from 100 per year before AI.

In Ukraine, both sides are using techniques that are both increasingly sophisticated and increasingly low-barrier. Drones purchased online can be fitted with grenades to be dropped on enemy trenches.

With the rapid pace of the arms race, there are myriad dangers that are presenting themselves faster than the global order can regulate against them.

What happens, for instance, when the AI pilot hallucinates? What happens when a bad actor hacks the systems? How do we address the legal and ethical implications of this new form of warfare in which technology decides who lives and who dies? Who is held accountable when things go wrong?

“We, as a global society, have no real answers to these questions,” said Marijan.

But thankfully, states, along with organizations like Ploughshares, are attempting to tackle the issues. Progress is being made, with summits on responsible military AI and the continued discussions at the United Nations.

But, judging by the shocked reaction in the McMaster classroom after Marijan’s talk, there’s much more to be done, and current students can play their part.

“People who care about these issues matter because they can monitor the meetings where hugely important decision are made, and they can report back.”