How Can Artificial Intelligence on the Battlefield Shape Moral Injury?

A USU graduate student with a background in moral philosophy is preparing to study moral injury in an era of AI-enabled warfare.

October 13, 2026 by Hadiyah Brendel

U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Raymond Gilmore studied moral philosophy and theology at the Catholic University of America before starting on the path to become a military psychologist at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU). Now a graduate student in USU’s Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology (MPS), he is asking how artificial intelligence on the battlefield could change the moral injuries service members carry home.

Moral injury is the lasting psychological harm, often marked by guilt and shame, that can follow acts that violate a person’s core moral beliefs. As AI enters command-and-control operations, the systems commanders use to direct forces, MPS faculty and graduate students in USU’s School of Medicine are preparing to help service members work through the ethical questions that come with its use in combat, part of USU’s wider focus on artificial intelligence in military medicine.

“I was already tending towards looking at moral issues around the use of drones and remote warfare from a philosophical perspective,” Gilmore explains. “Working with former military and law enforcement personnel, I started asking what issues I’d be most likely to see in the future. The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into the military is a front-and-center consideration right now.”