Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul (third from left) and Minister of National Defense Kim Yong Hyun (fourth from left) on Sept. 10 pose for photos with participants of a roundtable at the Responsible AI in Military Domain Summit held at the hotel Westin Josun Seoul. (Ministry of National Defense)
By Yoo Yeon Gyeong
A United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly committee has adopted its first resolution on the military use of artificial intelligence (AI), an initiative jointly led by Korea.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Nov. 8 said a resolution jointly presented on Nov. 6 by Korea and the Netherlands on AI in the military domain and its implications for global peace and security was adopted by 165 countries including the U.S., Japan and China at the First Committee of the General Assembly. North Korea and Russia opposed it and six other states abstained.
The resolution is expected to be submitted to a plenary session of the General Assembly next month.
The resolution proposes applying international law to military AI, maximizing the benefits of introducing AI in the military and minimizing danger, narrowing the AI gap among developing and advanced economies and boosting capacity building, and requesting a report from the U.N. secretary general on the views of countries, international organizations and academia.
This is the U.N.'s first adoption of a resolution on the military use of AI.
Korea and the Netherlands seek to set international standards for the military use of AI. They co-hosted the first and second rounds of the Responsible AI in Military Domain Summit in The Hague last year and Seoul this year.
