Artificial intelligence
Bilateral discussion on use of artificial intelligence could lead to restriction on military use
THE US and China have agreed that there is a need for bilateral talks to reduce the risks from advanced artificial intelligence. Such talks could lead to restrictions on using AI to manage command and control systems for nuclear weapons.
The news came out of a meeting between US president Joe Biden and China’s president Xi Jinping during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco on 15 November.
It may provide some common ground at a time when the US has restricted exports of computer chip technologies to China in an effort to limit the country’s AI development.
“It’s pretty low-hanging fruit, because we all agree that nuclear weapons should not be used and we all agree that we should responsibly manage them,” says Lyle Morris at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a think tank based in New York and Washington DC. “And then we also can agree that having ahuman in the loop is important for [managing] escalation of nuclear weapons.”
Despite Chinese and US news reports leading up to the meeting on the possibility of an agreement on the issue of AI control over nuclear weapons, no formal agreement was achieved. But the political and military leaderships of both countries have considered the issue independently.
In October 2022, the US Department of Defense committed to maintaining human control over nuclear weapons usage. Similarly, Chinese expert discussions and papers suggest no rush to apply AI or autonomous systems to nuclear weapons.
There are many ways in which integrating AI into nuclear forces – especially full automation of nuclear command and control systems – could go wrong, says Vincent Boulanin at the Stockho
