UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has warned against allowing artificial intelligence (AI) to make decisions about the launch of nuclear weapons.
At a meeting of the Arms Control Association, Guterres stressed that the world is on the brink of a potential nuclear disaster, comparable to the darkest days of the Cold War.
“We are on the edge of a knife,” 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 Union’s automatic nuclear response system, which could launch nuclear weapons even if the command center were 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 people, not soulless machines.
“Until these weapons are eliminated, all countries must agree that any decision regarding nuclear use is made by humans; no machines or algorithms,” he said, emphasizing that humanity should not entrust its fate to machines.
