Decentring the governance of AI in the military: a focus on the postcolonial subject

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>The governance of emerging technologies with increased autonomy in the military has become a topical issue in recent years, especially considering the rapid advances in artificial intelligence and related innovations in computer science. Despite this hype, the postcolonial subject’s position has been seen as secondary, often associated with victimhood or obscurity. By shifting the narrative to highlight the postcolonial subject’s agency—not only in providing real-world examples of artificial intelligence use in the military but also in knowledge creation and shaping the discourse on governance within the international, this paper contributes to an area of research that is often overlooked. The paper unpacks the norm-making efforts of postcolonial subjects regarding emerging military technologies. In doing this, the paper aims to advance postcolonial theory by showing how the dynamics of governing emerging military technologies intertwine with postcolonial subjectivity and to broaden the academic discussion on the governance of emerging military technologies and algorithmic violence, which has so far been dominated by Western or universalistic discourse.</jats:p>