March 02, 2023
AI Nuclear Weapons Catastrophe Can Be Avoided
In October 2022, the U.S. Department of Defense released its National Defense Strategy, which included a Nuclear Posture Review. Notably, the department committed to always maintain human control over nuclear weapons: “In all cases, the United States will maintain a human ‘in the loop’ for all actions critical to informing and executing decisions by the President to initiate and terminate nuclear weapon employment.”
AI-enabled nuclear weapons are particularly concerning due to their civilization-destroying nature.
This commitment is a valuable first step that other nuclear powers should follow. Still, it is not enough. Commitments like these are time and circumstance dependent. The U.S. military does not currently feel the need to produce and deploy such weapons, in part because it does not see other nuclear powers engaging in similar behavior. Thus, the threat of an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled arms race is not a high-level concern for military planners. In the future, emerging AI features will only increase the potential for disaster through the possibility of semiautonomous or fully autonomous nuclear weapons.
Read the full article from Lawfare.
More from CNAS
-
Promethean Rivalry
Reports
Executive Summary Just as nuclear weapons revolutionized 20th-century geopolitics, artificial intelligence (AI) is primed to transform 21st-century power dynamics—with world l...
By Bill Drexel
-
Safe and Effective
Reports
The promise of artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomy to change the character of war inches closer to reality...
By Josh Wallin
-
Catalyzing Crisis
Reports
The arrival of ChatGPT in November 2022 initiated both great excitement and fear around the world about the potential and risks of artificial intelligence (AI). In response, s...
By Bill Drexel & Caleb Withers
-
Obstacles and Opportunities for Transformative Change
Congressional Testimony
Watch:...
By Paul Scharre
