Can U.S. Lawmakers Prevent AI From Launching a Nuclear Weapon

During an appearance on FNC’s “America’s Newsroom,” Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Ted Lieu (D-CA) spoke about their bipartisan effort to eliminate the possibility of artificial intelligence (A.I.) launching nuclear weapons.

According to Lieu, a panel of experts put the odds at 36% of it happening.

“Well, A.I. is here,” Buck said. “And, unfortunately, Congress hasn’t been really looking at the issue for a long time. So, I think what is absolutely essential — I am so glad that Ted brought this bill to me and included me in this bill. We want to make sure that there a human in this process of launching a nuclear weapon if at any point in time we need to launch a nuclear weapon. So you see sci-fi movies, and the world is out of control because A.I. has taken over. We’re going to have humans in this process.”

“Yes,” host Bill Hemmer replied. “Congressman Lieu, here’s from Stanford, right? I mean, 36% of surveyed A.I. experts worry about the possibility that automated systems could cause nuclear-level catastrophe. Now, I — 36% s a little too high. You want that sucker at zero, don’t you?”

“Thank you, Bill, for your question,” Lieu said. “And let me first say what an honor it is to work with my friend and colleague Ken Buck. We came in 2015 together in freshman class. We were both freshman class presidents and have worked on a number of issues, and now working on this issue to make sure that, when the Department of Defense has a class of automated weapons, which they do now, that we never let A.I. take control of automated nuclear weapons because we always have to have a human in the loop.”

“And you’re right,” he added. “We can’t have a 36% chance a catastrophe can happen. It’s got to be a zero percent chance.”

Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor