On March 19-20, 2024, the U.S. Department of State, in collaboration with the Department of Defense, convened and hosted 161 participants from 60 countries for a two-day inaugural plenary meeting of States endorsing the Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy. The event was held at the University of Maryland, College Park, and included representatives from endorsing States and observers.
The Declaration, endorsed by 54 States, is a commitment to 10 foundational measures of responsible behavior. These measures provide a basis for an international framework of responsibility that enables States to harness the benefits of AI while mitigating the risks in the military domain. This plenary meeting was the first step by the endorsing States to operationalize and implement this groundbreaking initiative.
At the plenary, endorsing States discussed their national approaches to implementing responsible AI measures, shared their priorities and challenges unique to their national contexts, and developed plans for three working groups to pursue concrete deliverables in the coming months. As the first set of co-chairs, Austria, Bahrain, Canada, Portugal, and the United States will lead these working groups in carrying forward the implementation of the measures identified in the Declaration.
The Political Declaration is a landmark, solutions-oriented initiative. The Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability Bureau leads the Department of State’s efforts on the Political Declaration, in close collaboration with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. We look forward to collaborating with this group of responsible States, including States from each UN regional grouping, to ensure that military use of AI is responsible, ethical, and enhances international security. We will continue our outreach efforts to bring additional States into this partnership.