
The West Point manual
Artificial Intelligence
Recognizing that artificial intelligence (AI) has increasingly found its way onto modern battlefields, the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare has launched a comprehensive research project aimed at providing a clear understanding of how international law applies to AI and AI-enabled military operations today. The culmination of the project, led by Professors Michael Schmitt and Sean Watts, will be the publication of The West Point Manual on the International Law Applicable to Artificial Intelligence in Warfare. As States continue to integrate AI into their military strategies, the West Point Manual will provide commanders, legal advisors, and other relevant stakeholders with a reliable practitioners’ guide informed by real-world military legal experience to help them navigate the complex legal frameworks governing the development, fielding, and use of the technology on the battlefield. Currently projected to extend into 2027, the project will involve collaboration with global experts and consultations with State representatives to ensure the West Point Manual’s relevance and utility to its intended end users.
Our Partners
News and Events:
-
- On 26 June, 2025, project members participated in the GC REAIM Symposium organized by the Hague Center for Strategic Studies in the Hague, Netherlands.
- Over 9-10 June, 2025, the Army Cyber Institute, a project partner, conducted a workshop titled AI on the Battlefield”.
- The West Point Manual welcomes the National University of Singapore as project partner.
- On May 15, 2025, the Strauss Center, one of the project partners, organized a workshop with AI industry firms.
- Over May 13-14, 2025, project members addressed emerging issues on the use of AI under international law at the Annual Conference organized by the Army Futures Command at the University of Texas.
- The West Point Manual welcomes the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government as project partner.
- On March 28, 2025, the West Point Manual was first officially presented at the UNIDIR RAISE Conference at the United Nations in Geneva.
- On March 19, 2025, University of Reading and the U.S. Naval War College – both project partners – hosted a workshop focusing on the various aspects of international law affected by Artificial Intelligence.
- The drafting team expands, as the West Point Manual project welcome the Netherlands Defense Academy to our list of partners.
- Over January 23–25, 2025, the Stockton Center for International Law, one of our partner institutions, hosted a workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark focusing on the international legal issues pertaining to AI-enabled military operations within the maritime domain.
- Drafting began on January 15, 2025, with an inaugural meeting between the directors and drafters.