Abstract
<jats:p>Debates about “lethal autonomous weapon systems” (LAWS) and so-called “killer robots” have dominated legal and ethical discussions of military artificial intelligence in recent years. Yet contemporary military AI capabilities extend well beyond autonomous weapons, encompassing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), command-and-control decision support, cyber operations, logistics, and training. This article maps how “autonomy” and “military AI” have been framed in policy, law, and ethics, and proposes a functional framework aligned with current military practice and emerging AI-enabled operations. It first situates today’s autonomy discourse within a longer trajectory of military automation and delegated control. It then shows how academic and strategic literature has expanded from a LAWS-centered lens toward broader conceptions of algorithmic warfare and AI-enabled defense. Building on this evolution, the article presents a three-axis framework organized by (i) purpose of use, (ii) type of effects, and (iii) role in the decision chain, alongside working definitions of autonomous weapon systems (AWS) and LAWS. It concludes that structuring legal, ethical, and policy analysis around functions, effects, and control modalities—rather than labels alone—better captures the spectrum of military AI and supports coherent governance.</jats:p>