Scaling Laws: AI as Abnormal Technology? Scott Sullivan Analyzes AI in the Military Domain

Scott Sullivan, professor of law at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a leading contributor to the Manual on International Law Applicable to Artificial Intelligence in Warfare, joins Kevin Frazier, AI Innovation and Law Fellow at the University of Texas School of Law and a Senior Editor at Lawfare, to examine whether AI should be understood as a “normal” or “abnormal” technology.

Drawing on his recent article, Sullivan argues that while AI may diffuse slowly and unevenly in civilian contexts, military AI operates under fundamentally different conditions—where strategic competition rewards speed, costs are often externalized, and meaningful oversight is limited by secrecy and epistemic uncertainty.

The conversation explores how these dynamics challenge prevailing AI governance frameworks, what current military deployments reveal about the trajectory of AI adoption, and whether existing legal and policy tools are equipped to manage a domain where the pace of technological integration may outstrip the institutions designed to constrain it.