The central ethical risk of military AI is not machine autonomy but human abdication: the tendency to treat algorithmic speed, confidence scores, and procedural validation as insulation from responsibility in war. Examining autonomy, remote warfare, cyber operations, and biotechnology, the chapter argues that preserving the warrior ethos in machine-age warfare requires leaders to retain the burden of command while building accountability, epistemic competence, and structural safeguards that keep responsibility inseparable from authority.

The central ethical risk of military AI is not machine autonomy but human abdication: the tendency to treat algorithmic speed, confidence scores, and procedural validation as insulation from responsibility in war. Examining autonomy, remote warfare, cyber operations, and biotechnology, the chapter argues that preserving the warrior ethos in machine-age warfare requires leaders to retain the burden of command while building accountability, epistemic competence, and structural safeguards that keep responsibility inseparable from authority.