"In all cases, the US will maintain a human ain the loop' for all actions critical to informing and executing decisions by the President to initiate and terminate nuclear weapon employment"
A group of US lawmakers have proposed a bill to stop artificial intelligence (AI)-driven autonomous systems from single-handedly launching nuclear weapons, as fears arise on the potential threat of AI taking a decision on its own.
Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) and Representatives Ted Lieu
(D-CA), Don Beyer (D-VA), and Ken Buck (R-CO) have introduced the 'Block
Nuclear Launch by Autonomous AI Act' in the US, reports The Verge.The bill
would "prohibit the use of Federal funds to launch a nuclear weapon using an
autonomous weapons system that is not subject to meaningful human
control".
"In all cases, the US will maintain a human ain the
loop' for all actions critical to informing and executing decisions by the
President to initiate and terminate nuclear weapon employment," read the
bill.
The Senators feel that it is the sense of Congress that the
use of lethal, autonomous nuclear weapons systems that are not subject to
meaningful human control cannot properly adhere to international
humanitarian law and "any decision to launch a nuclear weaponAshould not be
made by AI".
An earlier 'National Security Commission on
Artificial Intelligence' report recommended affirming a ban on autonomous
nuclear weapons launches, "not only to prevent it from happening inside the
US government but to spur similar commitments from China and Russia", the
report mentioned.
A large-scale nuclear war would lead to the deaths of millions
of people, firestorms, radioactive fallout contamination, agricultural
failure, and catastrophic climate results.
"Compliance with
international humanitarian law, human control and human legal judgment is
essential in the nuclear command and control process," the bill stressed.
The
2022 Nuclear Posture Review states that "in all cases, the US will maintain
a human ain the loop' for all actions critical to informing and executing
decisions by the President to initiate and terminate nuclear weapon
employment".
