Legal and ethical implications of autonomous cyber capabilities: a call for retaining human control in cyberspace

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has multiple military applications in all the operational domains, including cyberspace. Among other things, AI is increasingly used to augment the level of autonomy and adaptability of both defensive and offensive cyber capabilities, to the extent that they will be able to operate without real-time human intervention. While the use AI-enabled autonomous cyber capabilities might be seen as operationally desirable, as they might outperform human operators, it also raises important concerns, as they are highly unpredictable, unreliable and unexplainable, especially when they are deployed in hostile and dynamic scenarios. This paper aims at exploring the main legal and ethical implications of the use of AI-enabled autonomous cyber capabilities in the use of force and conduct of hostilities, while contributing to the debate on the matter. In order to promote a responsible military use of AI in cyberspace, it will be suggested to retain a context-specific degree of human control over autonomous cyber capabilities, that takes into account both humanitarian and military considerations.