Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security

1. REAIM: The World’s First Summit on the Responsible Military Use of AI
2. Achievements of the First REAIM Summit and Key Themes of the Second REAIM Summit
3. AI and Modern and Future Warfare
4. Considerations for Establishing Norms in Military AI


Countries around the world are competing to enhance their military capabilities using emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), while also seeking cooperation to manage the military uncertainties and unintended military tensions that such technologies may bring. One of the first significant international cooperation attempts of this kind is the REAIM Summit, which was first held in The Hague, Netherlands in February 2023 and will be hosted in South Korea this year.


REAIM: The World’s First Summit on the Responsible Military Use of AI

On September 9 and 10, 2024 in Seoul, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of National Defense, in collaboration with the Netherlands, Singapore, the U.K., Kenya, and Northern Island, will co-host the "Responsible AI in the Military Domain (REAIM) Summit."  This Summit is the world's first international conference focused exclusively on the "military use of AI," involving participation from both the government and the private sector. The first Summit in 2023 presented the responsible use of AI in the military sector as an "urgent" issue that the international community must address, drawing international attention to the matter. The second Summit, to be held in Seoul, will be attended by representatives from approximately 100 countries. It will feature participation from various United Nations (UN) agencies, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Foreign and Defense Ministries of the participant countries. Representatives from the participant countries including their armies, navies, and air forces as well as research institutions affiliated with government agencies, college research institutes, and key think tanks will also be present. REAIM consists of Ministerial Rountables, three Plenary Sessions with high-level panel discussions, and 50 panels of Breakout Sessions as well as REAIM talks. The Summit is expected to close with the official endorsement of the ‘Blueprint for Action’ as an outcome document. Also, there will be side events for the youth, such as “Policy Proposals by Korean Youth Envoy for Disarmament and Non-proliferation”, “ROK-UN Sci-fAI Futures Youth Challenge Award Ceremony” prepared by South Korean students and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA), and the Youth REAIM TTX. AI technologies such as autonomous drones equipped with AI such as facial recognition, social media bot accounts, and cognitive warfare using deepfake videos created by generative AI, are already being extensively and actively used on current battlefields, as seen in the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict. In this context, the first REAIM Summit, despite being the inaugural meeting, attracted around 2,000 participants from over 80 countries including governments, the UN, industry leaders like Google, think tanks, academia, and civil society. Amidst the ongoing conflicts, the 'Call to Action' derived from the first Summit was an ambitious initiative that presented the responsible use of AI in the military sector as a political agenda deserving global attention.


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IFANS FOCUS 2024-04E(송태은).pdf