Developing nonviolent artificial intelligence: nonviolence as a principle of ethical AI

Abstract

This paper considers how a principle of nonviolence could be integrated into the architecture of ethical AI. It considers how nonviolence could be deployed in the system prompts of autonomous vehicles (to prevent weaponization), in autonomous weapons systems, and in LLM’s employed as war room assistants. It explains how nonviolence differs from the principle of nonmaleficence as found in “principlism” in applied ethics in discussions of AI ethics. It shows how discussions of principled nonviolence are found in pacifism and the just war theory, while considering the idea of abolishing militaristic employment of AI systems. It concludes by imagining ways that nonviolent AI could push back against unethical usage of weapons systems, and how nonviolent AI could be useful in creating a more peaceful and less violent world.