Dr Kenneth Payne

Biography

Dr Payne's research is in political psychology. He’s just finished writing his fourth book, which considers the ways in which Artificial Intelligence will change strategy.

Earlier books explored the evolution of strategy from apes and early humans to Artificial Intelligence; strategy in the Vietnam War, and the relationship between human evolution and modern, liberal warfare.

Dr Payne has consulted for the governments of the United Kingdom, United States and the Netherlands. He’s been a NATO research fellow and visiting fellow at Oxford University.

Research Interests

• International Relations
• Political psychology
• Strategic studies

Dr Payne is currently exploring the role of empathy and personality in shaping foreign policy, using the period of the Kennedy administration as a case study.

Publications

Books

• Kenneth Payne, I Warbot: The Dawn of Artificially Intelligent Conflict (London: Hurst & Co. 2021) [Forthcoming]
• Kenneth Payne, Strategy, Evolution, and War: From Apes to Artificial Intelligence (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2018)
• The Psychology of Strategy: Exploring Rationality in the Vietnam War (New York: OUP, 2015)
• The Psychology of Modern Conflict: Evolutionary Theory, Human Nature and a Liberal Approach to War (Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015)

Articles

• Kenneth Payne, ‘Artificial Intelligence as a revolution in military affairs,’ Survival, 60:5, Oct-Nov 2018
• Kenneth Payne and Kareem Ayoub, ‘Strategy in the age of Artificial Intelligence,’ Journal of Strategic Studies, 39:5-6, 2016

Teaching

Dr Payne teaches across the range of strategic studies topics, with specialist modules on the psychology of conflict and artificial intelligence.

PhD Supervision

Dr Payne is happy to consider PhD supervision in his research area.

Dr Kenneth Payne PURE Profile