With its Speaker Series, the TUM Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence invites experts from all over the world to talk about ethics and governance of AI. These events serve as an important platform for sharing new research and exchanging knowledge.

This session of the TUM IEAI Speaker Series will take place on June 7th virtually via Zoom at 3:00 pm CEST. The topic of the session will be “We are the LIMFAC: Some Thoughts on Military AI”.

We are pleased to announce that the speaker for this session is BG(Ret) David Barnes, PhD.

Recently named as one of Forbes’ “Top 15 AI Ethicists,” BG(R) Dave Barnes advises senior government and business leaders on mitigating AI regulatory and ethical risks affecting their business or investment decisions. He retired from the US Army after nearly 32 years of distinguished service, most recently serving as Professor, United States Military Academy (PUSMA) Department of English and Philosophy, West Point, NY and as Chief AI Ethics Officer for the US Army’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Integration Center (AI2C).

As Chief AI Ethics Officer, he advised the Army on incorporating ethics, law, and policy into Army AI design, development, testing, and employment, directly contributing to the development of the DoD AI Ethical Principles and the 2020 US Army AI Strategy. In this capacity, he provided assistance to the Joint AI Center (JAIC), Defense Innovation Board (DIB), National Security Commission on AI, OSD Autonomy Community of Interest (CoI), OSD Biotechnology CoI’s Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) Subcommittee, and others. He also served as the US Army’s Senior Service Representative for the USSOCOM Commander’s 2019 Comprehensive Review of Culture and Ethics.
His research interests include normative and applied ethics, especially the ethics of war and the ethics of emerging technology. He is a DARPA Senior AI Ethics Advisor, a Senior Advisor for the JAIC Responsible AI Subcommittee, and a Non-resident Fellow at the Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace.

He is a member of the Editorial Boards for AI and Ethics and the Journal of Military Ethics, and he serves on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Military Ethics (ISME). He is the author of The Ethics of Military Privatization: The US Armed Contractor Phenomenon and multiple articles on ethics of armed conflict and the ethics of emerging technology; he has given over 30 national and international conference presentations and been an invited panelist for over 50 events. He is Senior Advisor to ArsQuanta and R4Ethics and is working on projects with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Special Competitive Studies Project.

BG(R) Barnes graduated from the United States Military Academy with a BS in Aero-Mechanical Engineering. He holds a MA in philosophy from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and a PhD in philosophy from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

His remarks are personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense, the United States Army, the United States Military Academy, or any other department or agency of the United States Government.

This event is being photographed and/or video recorded for archival, educational, and related promotional purposes. We also video stream many of these video recordings through the IEAI web site. By attending or participating in this event, you are giving your consent to be photographed and/or video recorded and you are waiving any and all claims regarding the use of your image by the Institute of Ethics in Artificial Intelligence. The IEAI, at its discretion, may provide a copy of the photos/footage upon written request.

The Zoom link will be sent to you at the day of the event.