The weaponisation of Artificial Intelligence in armed conflict demands urgent global norms. Discuss, and suggest the role India can play.

Weaponised Artificial Intelligence (AI) uses algorithms to detect, select and strike targets in war. The UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory is chaired by retired Indian judge Justice S. Muralidhar. It has described an AI-assisted system that "monitors the location of targeted individuals" [1]. The gap in global rules is therefore already real.

Why urgent global norms are needed

• Accountability gap: when software proposes a target and a soldier only approves it, responsibility blurs. The Commission holds that those who "exercise effective control over the system" remain accountable [1].
• Civilian protection: the speed and scale of algorithmic targeting strain the IHL principles of distinction and proportionality.
• Proliferation: cheap drones and open-source models are reaching non-state actors, and no treaty covers them.
• Regulatory lag: UNGA Resolution 79/62 (2024), adopted 166–3–15, only created a discussion forum and did not mandate treaty negotiations [2].

Challenges in framing norms

• Dual-use technology: the same AI serves logistics and targeting, so compliance is hard to verify.
• Strategic resistance: militaries argue that AI improves precision and protects soldiers, so major powers resist binding limits.
• Definitional disputes: states disagree on what "autonomy" and "meaningful human control" mean.

Role India can play

• Norm-builder: India's Amandeep Singh Gill chaired the CCW Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons in 2017–18 [3]. Its 2018 report affirmed that humans must at all times remain accountable [4]. India can push to make this binding.
• Global South voice: the New Delhi Declaration of the AI Impact Summit 2026 drew around 90 endorsements [5]. India can use the same convening power for confidence-building on military AI.
• Domestic example: India can adopt a public military-AI doctrine with a human in the loop, legal review of new weapons and audit trails for targeting decisions.
• Principled diplomacy: India can back credible accountability processes while keeping its strategic partnerships.

Military AI is moving faster than the law, and its risks to civilians and to accountability are already visible. A binding instrument built on human control and individual responsibility is the way forward. With its CCW record and Global South standing, India can help keep AI in war within humanitarian law, in line with SDG 16.