Wargaming in the age of AI

From synthetical immersion to analytical simulation?
Publication date
2026-01-20
Document type
Conference paper
Author
Organisational unit
DOI
URI
Conference
Publisher
Universitätsbibliothek der HSU/UniBw H
Book title
Artificial Intelligence in Security and Defense : Proceedings of the workshop AI4SD
First page
50
Last page
57
Is part of
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
File(s)
Language
English
Keyword
Wargaming
Artificial intelligence
Large Language Models (LLM)
Military
Training
Ethics
Epistemology
Agency
Play
Abstract
Wargames are regarded as a suitable instrument through which practitioners may anticipate the complexity and unpredictability of future lived experience by means of ludic procedures. Over the past decade, wargaming has not only experienced a renaissance within military contexts but has also been rearticulated as a prioritized tool for learning and training. In this regard, the integration of technologies from the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) —particularly Large Language Models (LLMs)—is expected to assist in managing the emergent contingencies of modern warfare. Building on the promises attached both to military wargaming and to the implementation of LLMs within such practices, this contribution focuses, on the one hand, on the epistemological foundations of wargaming, with and without computational augmentation. On the other hand, by outlining the ethical risks implied by these automation strategies, it raises the question of what consequences the integration of technical agency entails for the pedagogical aspirations of wargaming and for ethically informed decision-making processes. In this context, the article further interrogates how the epistemological status of wargaming itself is being transformed through the turn to automation.
Version
Published version
Access right on openHSU
Open access