Postdoctoral Research Associate​/Fellow - Philosophy and Ethics of AI

Postdoctoral Research Associate / Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Philosophy and Ethics)

The starting salary will be from £34,610 up to £39,906 for PDRA and from £43,482 for PDRF, depending on knowledge, skills and experience.

This full time, ERC funded post is available January 2027 to 31 December 2031. The successful applicant will conduct outstanding, international quality research on the ethics of AI and military decision‑making. They will produce outstanding publications in the course of the research and establishing themselves as an expert in the field.

The Faculty is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Associate or Fellow with expertise in philosophy, ethics, political philosophy, moral philosophy, philosophy of technology, or a closely related field to work with Professor Anthony King (Principal Investigator) on his ERC Advanced Grant project GENERAL-AI:
Artificial Intelligence and Military Decision‑Making.

GENERAL-AI is a five-year European Research Council Advanced Grant investigating how artificial intelligence is transforming military decision‑making. The project challenges speculative accounts of AI taking over military command by examining what AI can actually do, how military commanders and their staffs use AI in practice, and the ethical implications of its use in war.

Focusing on AI-enabled high-intensity land warfare, the project combines the sociology of science and technology, ethnographic research, and philosophy and ethics. It investigates the development of military AI by leading technology companies, its use within NATO and European military headquarters, and the legal and ethical frameworks governing its application.

The project will provide a detailed empirical account of the relationship between AI and human decision‑making, while developing new theoretical perspectives on how AI is changing cognition, organisations and military command. Its findings will contribute both to academic debates about AI and to contemporary European security and defence policy.

GENERAL AI consists of three work packages:
Work Package 1 examines the technology itself exploring the development and character of AI Decision Support Systems through engagement with the relevant tech companies. Work Package 2 explores the process of decision‑making inside military headquarters. Work Package 3 will examine the ethics of military decision making with AI. This post refers to Work Package 3.

The successful candidate will undertake research for Work Package 3 (WP3), AI Ethics, investigating the ethical and legal implications of the use of artificial intelligence in military operations.

The research addresses a central question: to what extent does AI threaten the ethics of military decision‑making? Contemporary debates frequently frame this issue in terms of whether humans remain "in", "on" or "off" the decision‑making loop. GENERAL-AI develops an alternative approach, examining military decisions as decisions made by human groups in which AI systems, military personnel and civilian technical experts may increasingly be involved.

The postholder will investigate the changing distribution of agency, responsibility and ethical judgement within these emerging human-AI decision environments.

The…