Drones, Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Weapons, and Cybersecurity in Armed Conflicts: A Systematic Review of the Legal, Political, and Security Debate

Abstract

The increasing incorporation of drones, artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous weapons, and cyber capabilities into armed conflicts is reshaping practices of organized violence and expanding legal, political, and security controversies surrounding the use of force. This article examines the evolution of this debate and addresses the following question: how has the legal, political, and security discussion surrounding these technologies in armed conflicts changed? A systematic literature review complemented by bibliometric analysis was conducted. The search was carried out in Web of Science (SSCI), and the selection followed the PRISMA guidelines, with explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria. The 2020–2025 period yielded a corpus of 33 articles, which was analyzed through journal mapping, topic–author–country relationships, thematic evolution, and lexical comparison. The methodology combines quantitative and bibliometric analyses supported by tools such as Biblioshiny and Posit PBC™. The results show a shift from questioning the applicability of international law toward the operationalization of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) under conditions of distance, automation, and accelerated decision-making. In the case of drones, the focus moves from “precision” to institutional opacity, accountability, and proliferation. Regarding AI and autonomous weapons, the debate centers on decision-making agency, meaningful human control, and responsibility frameworks. In cybersecurity, disputes predominantly concern the notion of “attack,” attribution, and escalation risks, with increasing relevance of the temporal dimension. It is concluded that the prevailing regulatory response tends to re-operationalize IHL through standards, progressive clarification of obligations, and incremental international stabilization mechanisms.