by Dexter “Drexx” Laggui
Abstract: States can declare restraint in using AI-enabled military systems, but at present they can neither prove this nor verify each other’s claims. This article argues that the accountability and compliance gaps in autonomous weapons systems are, at root, verifiability gaps. Drawing on digital forensics standards (ISO/IEC 27001, 27037, 27042, 27043 and 42001) and electronic-evidence practice, it proposes forensic readiness as the inspection methodology: the designed-in logging, retention and authentication of mission, control-plane, training and runtime records. The resulting posture, which this article calls Evidentiary Custodianship, makes command responsibility, weapons review and meaningful human control testable rather than declared.
Keywords: autonomous weapons systems; digital forensics; forensic readiness; Evidentiary Custodianship; verification; arms control; meaningful human control; appropriate levels of human judgment; command responsibility; Article 36 weapons review; ISO/IEC 27037; ISO/IEC 27043; ISO/IEC 42001; electronic evidence; international humanitarian law
