Many hands in the black box: artificial intelligence and the responsibility of international organizations

Much of the debate on contemporary military and security applications of artificial intelligence (AI) focuses on their lethal uses and the purported ‘responsibility gap’ such applications ostensibly create. State responsibility is often overlooked in this context, and so is the responsibility of international organizations (IOs). The latter might largely mirror the former but has its own subtleties regarding, inter alia, applicable primary norms. Yet, despite the legal framework regulating AI still being fraught with questions, many IOs show increasing interest in AI. While in the foreseeable future hardly any IOs are to field AI-enabled lethal technologies, some of the soon-to-be-procured solutions- in particular AI-enabled surveillance drones- might require a legal review encompassing privacy concerns. The same technology, once fielded, might violate the right to privacy, raising questions of IO responsibility for such breaches. The present chapter sheds light on some unexplored issues AI might entail for IOs.