This conference is directly linked to the activity of the Disruption Network Institute, a new center for investigation and empirical research into the impact of artificial intelligence on new technologies of war, automated weapons and networked warfare, established by the Disruption Network Lab in September 2023. The independent research project “Investigating the Kill Cloud” (2023-2024) has been investigating links between artificial intelligence, surveillance, drone deployment, and further developments of automated weapon systems, aiming to produce knowledge urgently needed to critically assess and regulate the further merging of artificial intelligence into warfare.

The programme is based on debates generated during the Disruption Network Lab’s March 2022 conference The Kill Cloud: Networked Warfare, Drones & AI. The conference was aimed at providing some understanding into ethical problems with the current use of AI and satellite technology, such as their enabling of arbitrary targeted killing via unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The concept of the “Kill Cloud” was first outlined by drone whistleblowers Cian Westmoreland and Lisa Ling in the anthology Whistleblowing for Change (Tatiana Bazzichelli, transcript Verlag, 2021). It refers to the rapidly growing networked infrastructure of global reach with the primary intent of dominating every spectrum of warfare, including, space, cyberspace, and the electromagnetic spectrum itself. Westmoreland and Ling discussed how modern network centric warfare has been hidden behind the captivating image of the drone, all the while these systems are vastly more complex, insidious, ubiquitous, and inaccurate than the public is aware, and its colonial underpinnings continue to bring endless war to societies across the globe (as we are currently witnessing, for example, in Gaza and Ukraine).

In doing so, the Institute is not only contributing to an important ongoing debate about the future of warfare and the protection of civilians. It also directly mobilises the invaluable knowledge and experience of people who have helped to develop the current public discourse from within the systems under scrutiny. The initiative aims to provide a platform for investigation on the use of automatised technologies in the field of networked warfare, and the social and ethical implications of machine learning and algorithms in developing tactics of control, data tracking and surveillance.

In the 2023-2024 fellowship round, investigations have been carried out by four affiliated fellows, namely Lisa Ling (Whistleblower, Technologist, former Technical Sergeant, US Air Force Drone Surveillance Programme, US), Jack Poulson (Executive Director, Tech Inquiry, US), Naomi Colvin (Whistleblower Advocate and UK/Ireland/Belgium Programme Director at Blueprint for Free Speech, UK), and Joana Moll (Artist and Researcher, Professor of Networks, Academy of Media Arts Cologne, ES/DE). They will present the results of their research in a keynote panel moderated by Tatiana Bazzichelli (Director, Disruption Network Institute, Artistic Director, Disruption Network Lab, IT/DE).

In connection to the Disruption Network Institute’s work, this conference will investigate:
– How does the inclusion of artificial intelligence and autonomy impact networked warfare?
– What are the experiences/knowledge of whistleblowers which undermine networked warfare’s legality, morality, and ethics?
– What challenges does global connectivity, AI, and connected weaponry bring to democracy, human rights and the civil society?
– How does algorithmic warfare based on data mining and machine learning effect targeting killing policy?
– How is information warfare fueled by social media and cellphone location-tracking surveillance?
– How is artistic practice able to produce evidence in the field of information warfare?

Image: Jutta Weber