By Ingvild Bode and Kate Chandler

May 2026

In a Perspective article published by Nature Machine Intelligence, Ingvild Bode and Kate Chandler argue that safeguarding human control in the military domain requires examining the diverse forms of human–machine interaction that occur across the AI lifecycle. They review how actions at distinct stages, including research and development as well as testing, evaluation, validation and verification, impact human control. They then evaluate these dynamics through potential applications of AI-based decision support systems. Finally, they offer three recommendations to bolster the principle of human control: contestation mechanisms; continuous training; and documentation.