South Korea convened an international summit on Monday seeking to establish a blueprint for the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the military. However, any agreement is not expected to have binding powers to enforce it.

More than 90 countries including the United States and China have sent government representatives to the two-day summit in Seoul, which is the second such gathering.

The first summit was held in The Hague last year, where the United States, China, and other nations endorsed a modest "call to action, opens new tab" without legal commitment.

"Recently, in the Russia-Ukraine war, an AI-applied Ukrainian drone functioned as David's slingshot," South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun said in an opening address.

He was referring to Ukraine's efforts for a technological edge against Russia by rolling out AI-enabled drones, hoping they would help overcome signal jamming and enable unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to work in larger groups.

"As AI is applied to the military domain, the military's operational capabilities are dramatically improved. However it is like a double-edged sword, as it can cause damage from abuse," Kim said.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said discussions would cover areas such as a legal review to ensure compliance with international law and mechanisms to prevent autonomous weapons from making life-and-death decisions without appropriate human oversight.

The Seoul summit hoped to agree to a blueprint for action, establishing a minimum level of guardrails for AI in the military and suggesting principles on responsible use by reflecting principles laid out by NATO, the U.S., or several other countries, according to a senior South Korean official.

It was unclear how many nations attending the summit would endorse the document, aiming to be a more detailed attempt to set boundaries on AI use in the military, but still likely lack legal commitments.

The summit is not the only international set of discussions on AI use in the military.

U.N. countries that belong to the 1983 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) are discussing potential restrictions on lethal autonomous weapons systems for compliance with international humanitarian law.

The U.S. government last year also launched a declaration on the responsible use of AI in the military, which covers broader military application of AI, beyond weapons. As of August, 55 countries have endorsed the declaration.