Experts Want to Give Control of America's Nuclear Missiles to AI

When it comes to nuclear weapons and the Cold War, everything old is new again. Old treaties against the creation of long range nuclear weapons are dead and Russia is working on new nukes it promises can strike the United States in record time. Two experts have an idea how to counter the new Russian threat--turn over control of America's nuclear weapons to artificial intelligence. In an article for the military blog War on the Rocks, nuclear policy wonks turned college professors Adam Lowther and Curtis McGiffin, proposed making it easier for the President to launch nukes and advocating for an American, artificially intelligent "Dead Hand." "Dead Hand" is a Russian fail-deadly (like a fail-safe, but everyone dies), first deployed during the Cold War that ensures Russia's nukes fly if the country is attacked, even if no one exists to launch them Nuclear deterrence hinges on the theory that no country is willing to launch a nuke because it knows that rival countries will retaliate in kind. "Some ideas cross into bad science fictionland" Lowther and McGiffin suggest that, thanks to Russia's new nuclear weapons, the credible fear that America could retaliate with a nuclear strike is disappearing.