Bill proposed to ban AI from running nuclear missile systems without human leadership

Three Democrats and a Republican decided to get ahead of the possibility that Artificial Intelligence can develop to the point that it could run nuclear missile systems without human intervention. The Department of Defense already has a policy in place that prevents the scenario. These congressmen want to make it a law. They want to make sure that we don’t get to the point where AI launches nuclear weapons based on its own analysis without human input.

From Fox News:

The bipartisan lawmakers’ measure would preemptively stymie any future Defense Department policy decisions that could lead to AI being capable of firing off nuclear weapons on its own.

“While U.S. military use of AI can be appropriate for enhancing national security purposes, use of AI for deploying nuclear weapons without a human chain of command and control is reckless, dangerous, and should be prohibited,” Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., said this week.

“It is our job as Members of Congress to have responsible foresight when it comes to protecting future generations from potentially devastating consequences,” said Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who’s been vocal on the dangers of allowing AI to keep rapidly developing unchecked.

Their bill would codify existing Pentagon policy that requires a human be “in the loop” for any decisions regarding the use of nuclear weapons.

AI is increasingly becoming a hot topic in Washington as its growing prevalence in society forces lawmakers and officials to reckon with both its positives and its dangers.

Buck indicated that Capitol Hill had some catching up to do in an interview on “America’s Newsroom” on Friday morning. “AI is here and unfortunately, Congress hasn’t been really looking at the issue for a long time,” he said.

“We want to make sure that there is a human in this process of launching a nuclear weapon, if at any point in time we need to launch a nuclear weapon,” Buck said. “So you see sci-fi movies, and the world is out of control because AI is taken over — we’re gonna have humans in this process.”

Fox News has additional information here.

Category: Military issues