Daniel Møller Ølgaard

This chapter explores the relationship between the imaginaries and realities of algorithmic warfare – one of the defining global security challenges of the twenty-first century. We begin by defining what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is and outlining some of its many military applications. We then critically engage with the International Relations (IR) literature on whether recent technical advances in AI are changing the character – and possibly the nature – of war. Through an empirical examination of the recent wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the chapter highlights important differences between the various imaginaries associated with AI and its real-world battlefield use. We conclude by outlining a revised research agenda for the study of algorithmic warfare that: (1) adopts a more consciously “critical” approach to the study of these technologies; (2) reflects on how the various popular imaginaries associated with AI may distort their empirical study; and (3) focuses more on the practical use of AI-enabled Decision Support Systems in contemporary conflicts, rather than solely on “killer robots” and autonomous weapon systems.

References to the “imaginary” have become prevalent in the study of technology and war in contemporary world politics. As an introduction to this special issue, this article interrogates the “turn” to the “imaginary” by tracing how the concept has been deployed across three overlapping research traditions pertaining to social imaginaries, sociotechnical imaginaries, and security imaginaries. The article addresses two key questions at the heart of this research agenda: what are the core analytical properties of the imaginary, and which research methods can be used to study this concept? In contextualizing the core themes examined throughout the special issue, the article seeks to spur debate on the “value-added” of imaginaries in the study of technology, war, and security in (critical) IR and Security Studies scholarship at a time of renewed great power competition.

During the last decade or so, most aspects of world politics have become saturated with

digital-technological devices and platforms such as smartphones and social media. Yet,

practice-oriented International Relations (IR) scholarship has not adequately accounted for

the profound impact of this technological transformation on how world politics is ‘done’

within, across and beyond the traditional institutional settings of global political affairs. This

paper addresses this gap by integrating the concept of ‘sociotechnical imaginaries’ from Science

and Technology Studies (STS) into the study of practices and world politics. Sociotechnical

imaginaries encapsulate how technology intersects with society in and through collective

visions of the future. Drawing on interviews with international communication professionals

in Western European capitals, from across diplomacy and humanitarianism, we show how an

attention to ‘future imaginaries’ sheds new light on how the emergence of new technologies

(re)shape practitioners’ view of their role and agency in world politics. Concretely, we

find that, despite their different circumstances, these professionals exhibit similar patterns

of adaptations and evolving practices influenced by collectively perceived uncertainties and

promises associated with a future saturated by social media and algorithms. The article thus

contributes to a deeper understanding of the everyday interplay between technologies and

practitioners by emphasising the role of ‘future imaginaries’ in shaping world politics.

Artiklen argumenterer for, at Ukraines succes med droner afhænger af organisatorisk kultur og menneskelig dømmekraft frem for af teknologi alene. Med udgangspunkt i tre analytiske kriterier (omkostningseffektivitet, teknologisk modenhed og menneskelige forudsætninger) gennemfører artiklen en socioteknisk analyse af både menneskestyrede og autonome droners offensive og defensive anvendelser. Analysen viser, hvordan den største effekt af dronerne bygger på en eksperimenterende innovationskultur, adaptiv læring og tæt samspil mellem mennesker og maskiner, operatører og systemer. På denne baggrund konkluderer artiklen, at dansk droneoprustning bør prioritere kultur, træning og organisationsudvikling som forudsætning for teknologisk innovation og integration.

The growing fascination with so-called emerging and disruptive technologies (EDTs) such as artifical intelligence (AI) is already transforming military affairs in profound ways, even if these technologies are not yet properly integrated into military practices and organizations. To make sense of this, this brief article surveys the multiple and sometimes conflicting sociotechnical imaginaries tied to military EDTs and discusses their broader political implications. Concretely, it interrogates two perspectives on how war and military affairs are currently being (re)imagined in light of recent technological developments. These are: 1) the emergence of new forms of agency in the interplay between combatants and AI and 2) new forms of political authority that emerge from the growing influence of technology corporations in war and military affairs. Together, these examples illustrate the ‘messy’ and emergent dimensions of military technopolitics, whereby multiple and sometimes conflicting sociotechnical imaginaries are enrolled into and continusly (re)shape war and military affairs.

Selvom talen hurtigt falder på dræber-robotter, så finder den militære brug af AI finder sted i et bredt spektrum. Det handler også “bare” om at bruge ChatGPT til at skrive breve eller lidt mere alvorligt om at bruge avancerede algoritmer til at analysere luftfotos for potentielle trusler.

Men det handler altså også om mere eller mindre autonome våben, der allerede forlængst er i anvendelse i krig – og det er naturligvis noget, der virkelig deler vandene. Et eksempel er de ukrainske Saker Scout-droner, der indenfor visse rammer selv kan vælge og angribe mål på jorden.

Jeg har talt med adjunkt Daniel Møller Ølgaard fra Forsvarsakademiet om nogle af de mange udfordringer ved både den principielle og praktisk anvendelse af AI i militæret.

Det handler om alt fra basale tekniske problemer til spørgsmål om folkeret og hvordan man måske giver afkald på tidligere tiders nationale sikkerhed, når man lægger centrale funktioner i militæret i hænderne på udenlandske techgiganter…

This chapter grapples theoretically and analytically with the significance of new digital media technologies in relation to the study of emotions and world politics. It begins with a review of existing international relations literature that identifies the need for scholarly engagement with the technological backdrop of emotions and their politics. Drawing on insights from postphenomenology, it then introduces “technological mediation” as a theoretical prism with which to make sense of the role of media technologies in relation to how emotions become collective and shape world politics. It ends by illustrating the value of this approach by exploring how the refugee crisis is mediated in the virtual reality (VR) experience Sense of Home. In doing so, the chapter unveils the politics of emotions inherent to this humanitarian VR experience, which appeals to and manages the emotions of spectators but also reproduces problematic ways of seeing distant suffering.

Humanitarian donation apps offer a convenient and gratifying donation experience for their users-but can they truly revolutionize aid, or do they sediment unequal relationships of agency and dependency? The article seeks to answer this question by way of an in-depth case-study of the World Food Programme's ShareTheMeal app.
Abstract The emergence of humanitarian donation apps promises to revolutionize aid by making it easier for people to give to humanitarian causes with just a few swipes on the smartphone in the palm of their hands. Yet, little is known about the implications of this for the politics and ethics of contemporary aid. This article explores the politics of humanitarian donation apps through an in-depth study of the World Food Programme's donation app ShareTheMeal. By analysing data from a detailed app walkthrough and documentation in a user journal of the experiences of a sample of app users, the article shows how ShareTheMeal is designed to afford specific forms of everyday humanitarianism, and how users adopt, appropriate or resist these affordances. Doing so we find that, while ShareTheMeal affords a convenient and gratifying donation experience, it also reinvigorates racial and paternalistic divisions between donors as benevolent saviours and recipients as voiceless victims, and integrates users into an extractivist data economy. Hence, rather than revolutionizing aid, ShareTheMeal instead sediments unequal relationships of agency and dependency in and through everyday acts of helping. Yet, because of apps' openness to user resistance and change, another politics of humanitarianism is nevertheless possible.

Nye teknologier drevet af algoritmer og kunstig intelligens er ved at forandre måden, stater fører krig på:

I Ukraine gennemgår AI tusindvis af billeder og tekststykker, der til sammen afdækker, hvorhenne den russiske kampmoral af svagest og dermed mest udsat for angreb.

Og i Gaza, ud fra enorme datamængder, genererer kunstig intelligens lister over Hamas-krigere, og hvor de befinder sig. Hvor bevæger AI-våbnet sig hen, og vil AI inden længe indgå i det danske forsvars værktøjskasse? Det gør Daniel Møller Ølgaard, adjunkt ved Institut for Militærteknologi på Forsvarsakademiet, lytterne klogere på i dette afsnit af ’Krigsskolen’.