Unknowable Minds: Philosophical Insights on AI and Autonomous Weapons

Unknowable Minds: Philosophical Insights on AI and Autonomous Weapons by Mark Bailey. Imprint Academic, 2025, 192 pp.

In Unknowable Minds, Mark Bailey offers a compelling philosophical investigation into the challenges of using artificial intelligence (AI) in national security matters. He examines the ethical, scientific, and philosophical concerns about autonomous weapons and questions their decision-making processes. Bailey argues that humans may never fully understand AI decision making and problem solving due to how AI and humans solve the same problems differently, raising urgent and strategic concerns about autonomous weapons and the introduction of AI into nations’ militaries.

Bailey serves as the department chair for cyber intelligence and data science at the National Intelligence University. Coupled with his time in the US Army and his past work on AI programs, this academic background yields an informed analytical viewpoint to the discussion of AI’s growing role in military operations and the potential challenges associated with its development and application.

Bailey divides his work into six chapters, with the first few focusing on explaining AI and how it makes decisions using simple, easy-to-digest examples for those unfamiliar with this field. In his first chapter, Bailey introduces Project Titan Mind, a fictionalized example of a completed AI system “created to safeguard the nation’s security,” which he references throughout the book. He uses the vignette to highlight hypothetical issues, such as when in response to a simulated attack, Titan Mind “unburdened by historical precedents or human tendencies toward revenge, acted unpredictably.” Another great illustration of how AI operates appears in the second chapter, “Honeybees, Complexity, and the Philosophy of Emergence.” In this chapter, Bailey uses bees and nature to illustrate how AI works and how it would function when put into a complex situation. Including those examples not only opens up the book to readers who are familiar with these fields but also lowers the barrier to entry for all readers. These opening chapters are followed by an introduction to AI’s challenges to the national security sphere, including problems with proportionality and proliferation, and conclude with suggestions to help society move forward to promote cooperation rather than end in an AI arms race.

Bailey’s work is more relevant now than ever due to AI becoming more integrated into all industries, including the military. Coupled with current geopolitical issues, this rapid integration of emerging and not fully understood technology lends another layer of urgency to his analysis. While many discussions on AI and weapons focus on policy, legality, or technological capabilities, Unknowable Minds explores these technologies’ philosophical dilemmas and looks to find out not if something can be done but whether or not it should be done. Bailey likens these developments to how nuclear weapons revolutionized international affairs after World War II, arguing that once entirely artificial intelligence-integrated weapons are created, there will be no going back. This comparison is extremely useful as it helps put perspective on the gravity of the situation.

Bailey is not alone in highlighting these concerns. AI experts and military analysts are debating the risks of deploying these state-of-the-art systems without a human in the loop when making life-or-death decisions. For example, recent discussions within the United Nations have questioned whether autonomous weapons can indeed comply with international humanitarian law. While member states observed that emerging technology including AI “could drive economic growth, improve human well-being and help to achieve the sustainable development goals,” in particular lethal autonomous weapons “could also pose challenges for international peace and security and raise questions about the role of humans in war.”¹

Bailey, however, goes beyond these legal and practical concerns, emphasizing the conceptual gap between human and artificial intelligence. By its very nature, AI operates in a manner that may be difficult for humans to understand, making it inherently challenging to predict. If humans cannot understand how something works, Bailey argues that it can quickly become dangerous due to second- and third-order consequences of how AI will seek to accomplish its given goals. He writes, “The nature of AI unpredictability—grounded in the explainability and alignment problem—must first be understood if AI is to be broadly integrated into warfare” (84).

Bailey employs a combination of philosophical argumentation, case studies, and thought experiments to illustrate his concerns. He carefully avoids overly technical explanations, making his work accessible to a broad audience. Still, readers with a philosophy or an AI background will likely gain the most from his arguments as military personnel and policymakers may find some discussions too abstract. Nevertheless, the implications of Bailey’s arguments are highly relevant to real-world defense strategies and help bring crucial arguments into the pursuit of AI-integrated weapons that must be had for the sake of international stability.

In addition to its accessibility, the book’s other major strength is its interdisciplinary approach. Bailey draws on the philosophy of human decision-making, computer science, and military ethics to explore AI’s potential uses and limitations in these roles. He references advancements in automation and decision-making, linking them to contemporary advancements in machine learning and neural networks. As with any philosophical work, however, some of his arguments remain speculative. For example, while intriguing, his discussions on AI consciousness and the unknowability of machine intentions could leave scientifically-inclined readers wanting more empirical grounding.

Unknowable Minds prompts critical reflection on AI’s philosophical dilemmas and its role in more objective efforts. Bailey’s book is a thought-provoking and necessary read for anyone interested in AI ethics, AI military strategy, or the ethics of AI technology in warfare. By emphasizing AI’s ethical challenges, this book raises questions that demand further exploration as autonomous systems continue to evolve. Military professionals, policymakers, and scholars should find value in his rigorous and sometimes unsettling analysis of AI’s role in modern warfare. It is a must-read for those directly involved in these areas to understand the gravity of utilizing such technologies.

Captain Ethan McGraw, USAF