Volterra (Pisa) 6 – 13 August 2025
Peace and Stability in the Age of Militarized AI and Cyber-conflicts: New Challenges and Risks
Director of the School: Carlo Schaerf (Isodarco, Rome, Italy)
Directors of the Course: Diego Latella (ISODARCO & Former Senior Researcher, CNR-ISTI, Pisa (ret.)), Gian Piero Siroli (Università di Bologna, INFN & CERN), Guglielmo Tamburrini (ISODARCO & Università di Napoli Federico II)
With support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York
Description
Military powers actively incorporate advanced computing technologies into their defense systems, from artificial intelligence (AI) warfare applications to increasingly automated cyber defenses. The 2025 ISODARCO Summer Course focuses on new risks for peace and stability and related challenges for international governance that arise from the expanding militarization of advanced computing technologies.
Within the vast landscape of computing technologies and their military applications, special attention will be devoted to AI decision-support systems for command and control, autonomous weapons systems and their technological precursors, nuclear command and control with its cyber vulnerabilities, the escalation of cyber hostilities and the related risk of spillover to other warfare domains, the accelerated pace of AI-powered warfare and the related challenge of preserving human control over battlefield operations.
Internationally recognized scholars will address geopolitical, diplomatic, legal, and ethical implications of risks and challenges posed by militarized AI and cyber warfare in connection with nuclear stability and non-proliferation, regional conflicts, the laws of armed conflict, and international cooperation on arms control and disarmament. Introductory lectures will provide non-specialists with scientific, technological, and socioeconomic background information, making this summer course self-contained and accessible to participants from various educational experiences and academic qualifications.