The fundamentals of IHL were developed before the widespread use of personal computers, satellites, the Internet, and social media, and before private data became a commodity that could be accessed remotely and often without a person’s knowledge or consent. International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is the body of laws that govern international military conflicts, and they provide rules about how weapons should be used.

But not having clarity on 'right or wrong' is especially problematic when considering autonomous weapons systems (AWS). This fuzziness can be challenging for any autonomous system navigating the uncertainty of a human world-such as Alexa reacting to the wrong conversations, or self-driving cars being stymied by Our societies create laws and cultural norms to provide and maintain some semblance of order, but such structures are often open to interpretation, and they shift and evolve over time. It is fuzzy and indistinct, with lots of options and potential outcomes, full of complexity and nuance. The IEEE Standards Association is looking for your feedback on this topic, and invites you to answer these questions. This article is part of our Autonomous Weapons Challenges series.

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