Members of the RAW team have recently published two new contributions examining how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping contemporary warfare and its implications for civilian harm.
Tracing Algorithmic Harm in Contemporary Conflicts
In a new peer-reviewed article, “Tracing algorithmic harm: from innovation to deployment and impact on civilians”, RAW researchers Linde Arentze, Lauren Gould, and Marijn Hoijtink explore how AI is already transforming conflict environments such as Ukraine and Gaza.
The authors shift attention away from technical innovation alone to the lived realities of those affected by algorithmic warfare. They introduce the concepts of “beforemaths” and “aftermaths” to capture how harm occurs both before and after AI systems are deployed. This includes not only physical destruction, but also psychological harm, constant surveillance, and the risk that everyday civilian behaviour becomes interpreted as a threat.
The article ultimately calls for a deeper understanding of how AI systems produce new, compounded forms of harm and for greater scrutiny of responsibility and accountability across the full “algorithmic kill chain.”
Read the full article here.
Warification and the Illusion of Precision
Alongside Professor Luke Moffett (Queen’s University Belfast), Jessica Dorsey (RAW) has published a blog on Articles of War, based on their recent article in the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law: “Warification and the Illusion of Precision: AI, Targeting, and Increasing Civilian Harm.”
In this piece, the authors examine how AI-enabled decision-support systems are reshaping contemporary warfare and contributing to what they describe as “warification”—the gradual expansion and normalization of violence through legal, technical, and operational practices. They explore how narratives of “precision” and efficiency can obscure rising civilian harm, diffuse accountability, and transform human judgment in targeting processes.
The article ultimately argues that debates on military AI must move beyond technical optimisation toward deeper questions of legitimacy, legal interpretation, accountability, and the broader structures shaping the conduct of war in increasingly AI-mediated battlespaces.
Read the full article here.
