Designing for meaningful human control in military human-machine teams

van Diggelen, J., van den Bosch, K., Neerincx, M., & Steen, M. (2024). Designing for meaningful human control in military human-machine teams. In Research handbook on meaningful human control of artificial intelligence systems
(pp. 232-252). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Abstract

This chapter proposes methods for analysis, design, and evaluation of Meaningful Human Control
(MHC) for defense technologies from the perspective of military human-machine teaming (HMT).
Our approach is based on three principles. Firstly, MHC should be regarded as a core objective that
guides all phases of analysis, design and evaluation. Secondly, MHC affects all parts of the sociotechnical system, including humans, machines, AI’s, interactions, and context. Lastly, MHC should be
viewed as a property that spans longer periods of time, encompassing both prior and realtime
control by multiple actors. To describe macrolevel design options for achieving MHC, we propose
various Team Design Patterns. Furthermore, we present a case study, where we applied some of
these methods to envision HMT, involving robots and soldiers in a search and rescue task in a
military context.

Keywords: Military applications of AI, Responsible AI, Meaningful Human Control, Human-machine
teaming, Team design patterns, Value-sensitive design