Legal scholars and AI alignment researchers independently converged on the same core problem: AI cannot implement human value judgments reliably, as evidenced by IHL proportionality requirements and alignment specification challenges both identifying irreducible human judgment as the bottleneck

Two independent intellectual traditions—international humanitarian law and AI alignment research—have converged on the same fundamental problem through different pathways. Legal scholars analyzing autonomous weapons argue that IHL requirements (proportionality, distinction, precaution) cannot be satisfied by AI systems because these judgments require human value assessments that resist algorithmic specification. AI alignment researchers argue that specifying human values in code is intractable due to hidden complexity. Both communities identify the same structural impossibility: context-dependent human value judgments cannot be reliably encoded in autonomous systems. The legal community's 'meaningful human control' definition problem (ranging from 'human in the loop' to 'human in control') mirrors the alignment community's specification problem. This convergence is significant because it suggests the problem is not domain-specific but fundamental to the nature of value judgments. The legal framework adds an enforcement dimension: if AI cannot satisfy IHL requirements, deployment may already be illegal under existing law, creating governance pressure without requiring new coordination.