Artificial intelligence is on the rise, as are humans’ fears that it will decide to do bad things. Hence new federal legislation regarding AI and nuclear launch decisions.
This week, Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., and Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., Don Beyer, D-Va., and Ken Buck, R-Colo., introduced the Block Nuclear Launch by Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Act, which aims to do exactly that. Specifically, if codifies into law a policy of the Department of Defense that states that all decisions regarding the use of nuclear weapons must keep a human “in the loop.” This is also in line with a recommendation from the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence that only human beings be given the authority to launch nuclear weapons.
“As we live in an increasingly digital age, we need to ensure that humans hold the power alone to command, control and launch nuclear weapons — not robots,” said Markey in announcing the bill. “We need to keep humans in the loop on making life or death decisions to use deadly force, especially for our most dangerous weapons.”
