Will artificial intelligence help peacekeeping operations by acting as a mediator?
The artificial intelligence (AI) entered this century just a few years ago, and it has already turned society upside down. This revolution started only a few years ago and it’s growing its potential day by day, becoming a useful tool in human’s hands. As it has already been used for security purposes and there are tests that are trying to use AI to detect terrorist attacks, it is very possible that in the future it can be used to mediate conflicts and operate in peacebuilding.
AI is learning every moment from our inputs on the chat when using the platform, from interacting with us, and from continuous tech research that works to increase its potentialities. It is an incredible tool, an artificial brain, that elaborates on complex situations and analyses them without being compromised by any feelings or beliefs. So in case of a conflict situation, it would be able to understand both sides of the table, to better express what they are trying to say and to find a pathway towards peace within seconds. The professional role of a mediator is of course to be impartial, the reason why the majority of them come from states external to the conflict, however, mediators are human beings. Living entities with feelings, which might involuntarily take sides, especially in a prolonged conflict situation, which might lead to unbalanced peace agreements and generate new grievances.
It can also be said that the use of artificial intelligence as a replacement of the physical role of a mediator might be considered for a matter of security of the external actor itself. Indeed, as it reaches a hot zone, it might encounter threats to its life: for example, one of the sides might decide to resort to an act of war by killing the peacekeeper. By using a computer, it can be avoid any type of danger against the mediator.
But if the lack of human emotions can guarantee an efficient and speedy mediation, and propose balanced agreements, that human part missing from AI doesn’t allow the system to fully understand all different psychological and social shapes that might happen during the negotiation. A good mediator can indeed recognize certain behaviours, such as physical movements, or the different shapes of the voice, that are indicators of distress, feeling threatened or scared, anger, calm. All these signals invisible to the AI can on the contrary be used by the mediator to intervene in time.
Also, even if both parties mostly accept the presence of an external mediator who has not been influenced, they still require a certain level of trust in this person to talk privately to it. Indeed, they need to share their history, their personal reasons behind the conflicts, what they can grant in the deal and what they firmly want. It is probably easier for stakeholders from complicated backgrounds to discuss with a human representative, who can create a comfortable situation, rather than with a computer, that, despite the superintelligence, it will still create a social barrier. Particularly, it is likely that by using AI, both sides of the negotiation table won’t even need to be in the same room to go through their divergences and reach a stable conclusion to the conflict. As such, this might increase the gap between them and not allow them to fully trust as if they were at the same table looking at each other.
To sum up, artificial intelligence can help the different parties to express themselves better by reformulating their opinions, for example in a less aggressive way, and help reach peace agreements that are equal and fair to both injured sides. It will certainly play an important role in peacekeeping operations and it will help mediation, however, it will not replace humans in the peace processes. It will help them explore possibilities that might have not come up yet, supporting them with strategies and solutions. But peacekeeping operations in order to be successful will still require a physical presence that makes both parties engage in person and that can understand both feelings and resentments.
By The World Forum on Peace and Security
