In AI for Peace, Branka Panic and Paige Arthur provide a timely and accessible exploration of how emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies can be leveraged for peacebuilding and conflict prevention. While much of the current scholarship on AI focuses on its role in modern warfare—as seen in the context of the Russia–Ukraine war—AI for Peace shifts the lens toward a more constructive and underexplored frontier: the use of digital innovation to mitigate violence, support peace processes, and prevent conflict escalation.
Drawing on their hands-on experience in promoting digital tools for peace, Panic and Arthur offer a compelling and practically grounded framework for understanding “PeaceTech”—a term that encompasses technologies designed to foster peace. The book outlines four primary domains in which AI is making an impact: early warning systems for conflict prediction, countering online hate speech, documenting human rights violations, and integrating climate data into conflict analysis.
One of the most insightful sections of the book addresses conflict early warning. The authors discuss the potential of machine learning models to forecast violent outbreaks, while acknowledging the complexity of conflict dynamics and cautioning against overreliance on predictive capabilities. Their analogy—questioning whether violent conflict is more like predicting clouds (chaotic) or clocks (predictable)—effectively captures the limitations and possibilities of AI in this domain.
In addressing online hate speech, Panic and Arthur highlight tools such as Google’s Perspective API, which evaluates the toxicity of comments to support moderation efforts. This practical example illustrates how AI can play a preventive role in managing digital discourse, which often precedes real-world violence. Similarly, the book describes how AI technologies can be deployed to investigate human rights violations through the analysis of digital evidence—though it acknowledges the legal and ethical complexities that such interventions raise, particularly in terms of admissibility and NGO access.
The chapter on climate-related conflict is especially prescient, as the authors advocate for embedding climate data into peacebuilding efforts. They argue convincingly that while AI can help analyse and forecast disaster risks, the environmental cost of training and running AI systems themselves must also be considered.
A major strength of AI for Peace is its sustained attention to the ethical implications of PeaceTech. Panic and Arthur call for ethics to be “embedded by design” in the development and application of AI tools. They address key concerns such as algorithmic bias, data colonialism, and the dominance of Eurocentric ethical frameworks. This commitment to ethical design gives the book both normative depth and practical relevance, offering a clear path forward for responsible digital peacebuilding.