Autonomous Weapon Systems, International Crises, and Anticipatory Self-Defense
Journal: eYLS (Yale Law School)
Year: 2020

Autonomous Weapon Systems (“AWS”) present novel challenges for the laws of war. But the voluminous literature on the use of AWS during war – i.e., under the jus in bello framework – almost entirely ignores the challenges that AWS pose for jus ad bellum. This Note is among the first legal works to systematically analyze the question of when AWS may transition from peace to violence; that is, from crisis to war. Specifically, it asks when an autonomous weapon system may lawfully use force in antic