From Reaction to Prevention: WPS and Artificial Intelligence

Executive Summary

Artificial intelligence, when intentionally aligned with the prevention pillar of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, can serve as a powerful tool for anticipating conflict, protecting individual security, and strengthening democratic resilience.

AI implementation within existing security frameworks is largely reactive, focused on operational or postcrisis response rather than prevention, while initiatives that develop early warning indicators or build social cohesion and community resilience are limited in scope and implementation. Using AI as a tool for prevention requires deliberate choices and understanding to rethink not only how AI is used but also the broader security paradigms that determine which risks are prioritized, how tech systems are governed, and whose security is considered actionable.

The WPS agenda provides a proven model for conflict prevention. Applying the WPS model, and the broader humanitarian principles it draws on, to AI governance and policy structures would facilitate more comprehensive and context-sensitive approaches to conflict prevention. Reframing AI from a reactive solution to a preventive instrument across government, civil society, and the private sector offers a critical opportunity to reduce both digital and physical pathways to conflict while advancing more inclusive and sustainable security outcomes.