UN chief urges countries not to use AI to control nuclear weapons
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued a warning against allowing artificial intelligence (AI) to make decisions about launching nuclear weapons.
At a meeting of the Arms Control Association, Guterres stressed that the world is on the verge of a potential nuclear disaster comparable to the darkest days of the Cold War.
“We are on a knife’s edge,” he said, pointing to the resurgence of nuclear blackmail and the weakening of international agreements designed to prevent the use and spread of nuclear weapons.
Guterres called for global disarmament and especially called on the nuclear powers to lead this process. He also called on the United States and russia to resume arms control negotiations and agree on a new strategic arms treaty (START).
Guterres recalled the “dead hand” – the Soviet automatic nuclear response system, which could launch nuclear weapons even if the command center was destroyed.
He emphasized that such systems based on algorithms and AI could lead to catastrophic consequences. Guterres concluded that any decision to use nuclear weapons should remain in the hands of humans, not soulless machines.
“Until these weapons are eliminated, all countries must agree that any decision on nuclear use is made by humans; not machines or algorithms,” he said, emphasizing that humanity should not trust its destiny to machines.
