Episode 5 – Daniel Trusilo: «AI is coming to the battlefield. The question is whether meaningful human judgment will come with it.»

Is artificial intelligence merely the latest chapter in humanity’s long history of military innovation, or does it represent something fundamentally new?In this episode, Wolfram Eilenberger speaks with Dan Trusillo — West Point graduate, Iraq War veteran, and AI security researcher at the St. Gallen Collegium — about war, artificial intelligence, and the future of human responsibility. Together, they explore why meaningful decision-making and human judgement may become even more essential in an age increasingly shaped by autonomous systems.While wars have always been testing grounds for technological innovation, Trusillo explains how AI differs from previous “dual-use” technology, arguing that it is rather “omni-use.” The same frontier model can design a weapon, optimize its deployment, compress the kill chain, and transform the tactics of entire armies, all with only minor modifications. This unprecedented versatility not only accelerates cycles of military innovation at extraordinary speed but also raises urgent questions about what “meaningful human judgment” can still mean in conflict related decision-making.Drawing on his experiences as an officer in Iraq and later as a humanitarian advisor to the U.S. AID in Africa, Trusillo discusses not only the abstract architecture of AI ethics but also the human aspect of the military. What motivates someone to voluntarily enlist in the military? What distinguishes patriotism from selflessness? And can moral responsibility ever be delegated to machines? The conversation ranges from the paradoxes of military training to the promises and dangers of embodied AI and humanoid robotics; from command responsibility and the ethics of autonomous weapons to the broader challenge of defending democratic values in an increasingly automated world.A hopeful yet pragmatic conversation about technology, warfare, and perhaps the defining question of our time: how to preserve humanity and defend democracies in the age of artificial intelligence.Dan Trusillo is a Fellow at the St. Gallen Collegium, holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of St. Gallen, and a BSc from the United States Military Academy at West Point. A veteran of the Iraq War, he has advised USAID and US Africa Command, and published widely on AI and dual-use policy. He is currently completing a book on AI and human (in)security.