TRANSFORMATION OF THE BATTLEFIELD: A REVIEW OF NEW GENERATION OF AI-ENABLED CYBER ATTACKS UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW
The Impact of Technological Developments on International Law, Gökhan Güneysu,Sezercan Bektaş, Editör, Sakarya Üniversitesi Yayınları, İstanbul, ss.1-53, 2026
- Yayın Türü: Kitapta Bölüm / Araştırma Kitabı
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Yayınevi: Sakarya Üniversitesi Yayınları
- Basıldığı Şehir: İstanbul
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-53
- Editörler: Gökhan Güneysu,Sezercan Bektaş, Editör
- İstanbul Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
The recent rise of AI-enabled offensive cyber operations has sparked legal and ethical debates in the military. AI-enabled cyberattacks are designed with algorithms that enable them to select their intended targets and execute them without human intervention or control.
As autonomy and network dependency in weapons systems increase, sophisticated attacks targeting land, sea, and air platforms, critical infrastructure, and link connections, as exemplified in Ukraine and Gaza, will continue to grow in number and become more and more sophisticated.
The ever-changing nature of AI presents extensive debates regarding cybersecurity and legal practice. The unforeseen increase in the use of AI-enabled cyberattacks in military operations appears problematic in terms of the application of fundamental principles of international humanitarian law (IHL), establishing accountability, and limiting impacts to civilian populations. Both AI and autonomous systems are not compatible with the principles of discrimination, proportionality, and precautionary measures that underlie IHL, and in many cases, they violate these principles. This situation creates a gap that obscures individual responsibility under IHL.
This study provides a qualitative and critical review of existing literature, legal frameworks and policy documents, and proposes a comprehensive and multi-layered system that uses the fundamental parameters of the United Nations Charter to bridge the gaps in humanitarian law application, embodying the principle of prohibition of the use of force, the principle of non-intervention and the principle of sovereignty in the application of humanitarian law for AI-enabled cyber operations.
Keywords: Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI-Enabled Cyber Operations, International Humanitarian Law (IHL).