Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications: Transformative Driver for Maritime Security Operations and Legal Implications

Dear Colleagues,

In the contemporary era, artificial intelligence (AI) applications are rapidly evolving and significantly transforming the conduct of maritime operations, including those strongly related to maritime security. This new technological paradigm opens up unique opportunities and challenges for maritime law and governance like never before. As AI applications/systems become more advanced, facilitating tasks like autonomous navigation or threat detection and paving the way towards optimized operational management decisions, the traditional rules governing maritime activities are being tested and perhaps even stretched to their existing limits. In fact, the wider AI domain poses significant legal and practical challenges that extend beyond law practitioners to encompass all operators in the maritime sector. This Special Issue of Laws explores the complexities of the intersection of AI and maritime security within the context of international law and governance. It examines how current maritime international conventions, national legislation, and industry regulations are either evolving or failing to keep pace with this new paradigm.

Therefore, we are pleased to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue on "Artificial Intelligence (AI) Applications: Transformative Driver for Maritime Security Operations and Legal Implications". This Special Issue aims to examine the multifaceted legal development and limitations arising from the further utilization of AI apps for maritime security tasks, aligning closely with the focus of Laws on contemporary legal challenges and developments. Through this Special Issue, we seek to contribute to an essential conversation about finding the right balance between maintaining technologically innovative and legally sure seas in the age of AI so that the seas and oceans of our planet will remain safe, properly governed, and adequate for sustainable economic activities.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Analysis of legal frameworks on AI application in maritime security operations;
• Accountability and liability issues concerning autonomous ships and AI-enabled decision-making systems;
• Impact of AI on the development of international maritime security frameworks;
• AI-driven law enforcement at sea from the perspective of human rights;
• AI and data protection in maritime security operations;
• Legal fundamentals of cyber protection in AI driven maritime operations;
• Difficulties of AI-based cross-border maritime security collaboration.

Dr. Khanssa Lagdami
Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Dalaklis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.