Syeda Aeliya Batool
Artificial intelligence now shaped the warfare beyond battlefields. In the past, states were involved in conventional warfare: where one state knows who their enemy is and how are they threaten to them. As the world has gone through a lot in the past two decades, the style of waging war has also changed.
Now states fight without making their opponent realize that they are in a state of war and who is their enemy and how are they threaten to them. With the advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the war weapons are replaced from rifles, tanks, missiles, land mines and nuclear arms to “deep fakes”, “Microtargeting”, “Algorithm manipulation” and “Bots and Troll Farms”. These weapons are now utilized to fight a war by playing with the minds of people.
All the International governing bodies such as International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), Convention on certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) and Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) etc. have given their statements on Conventional method of war and not on psychological warfare and if they had, they had usually talked about the use of direct AI as an autonomous weapon not as a tool of playing with the psyche of human-psychological warfare, the creation of filter bubbles and breaks people’s deliberative capacity.
Therefore, those statements are not enough to handle this type of warfare. That is why, a question rises in the minds of Peace builders “Does the IHL consider the psychological warfare attacks as harmful as conventional warfare is for mankind?”
In the 21st century, the battlefield has shifted from physical territories to digital spaces where algorithms, data, and misinformation are used as powerful weapons. These weapons are more dangerous and harmful than traditional weapons like bombs and tanks. This is because these digital weapons are data-driven and autonomous. They use data to manipulate the human mind and perception.
People nowadays rely more on AI therefore, they use it to gather information on any specific topic to build their own narrative and perspective. This is how AI molds people’s perspectives. This kind of warfare is called Psychological Warfare; controlling perception, spreading fear or mistrust among nations by using their sentiments and emotions. In this modern warfare, States and Non state actors use these autonomous weapons against each other.
AI tools that are specifically involved in psychological warfare are Deepfakes: fake videos and audios, Microtargeting: tailoring specific messages and advertisements to small groups and individuals based on their interests, Bot networks: spreading disinformation and Algorithmic manipulation: controlling social media feeds by creating filter bubbles and increasing epistemic isolation among people etc.
There are no specific clauses of Geneva conventions covering AI psychological operations. Article 51, which talks about self-defense, in this case has no applicability since there is no physical attack. This is one of the loopholes of IHL as it failed to talk about the new challenges that the world is now facing during wars and thus it also failed in accountability and attribution.
The definition of “attack” is incomplete in the dictionary of IHL as they are failed to protect the human rights of having indigenous thoughts and mindset. Psychological war not only harms people on state level but also at individual level by using the emotions, beliefs, sentiments and feelings of people. The beliefs, ideologies, culture, and perceptions of people are now controlled through digital media. It is human Psyche that what he sees, he believes in it.
Now AI is so advanced that a person cannot distinguish at first sight whether what he sees or hears is real or not. The new way of waging a war is to start propaganda or to inflame someone’s emotions to the extent that people start to disperse and forms groups within a nation. That is how psychological warfare works. People started to get confused and raised their voices against their own beliefs, ideology, and state.
AI has been involved so much in our daily lives that the activity of every single person can be detected through machine learning models that can predict the mindset and interests of people. Once the activity of a specific group caught attention, the algorithm shows similar reels and posts in their feed to incite their reaction. This warfare is more harmful than others because it leaves no physical trace yet, causing destruction and unrest.
Based on the analysis above, several recommendations can be proposed to strengthen the IHL in addressing the challenges of psychological warfare. All the governing bodies must bring their attention to this serious issue as it not only harms state level but also targets at individual level. Secondly, at both international and national levels, transparency and accountability should be ensured.
Awareness campaigns should be conducted to educate people about misleading propaganda and the misuse of AI. An independent regulatory authority just like PEMRA in Pakistan and TRAI in India should be responsible at every state and local level to enforce strict broadcasting standards. Also, Large Language Model (LLM) test should be done by each individual to be safe from algorithmic biasness.
Artificial Intelligence has transformed modern warfare by shifting conflicts from conventional battlefields to cyber and psychological domains, creating new challenges for international peace and security. States must strengthen public awareness, counter disinformation, and enforce effective media regulations to protect society from digital propaganda.
The author is the student of Peace and Conflict Studies at National Defence University Islamabad. My academic focus lies on international Peace and Security and analysing the conflicts and other international matters with the lens of international law.
