Doomsday AI will cause nuclear war by 2040 that could destroy humanity

A devastating nuclear war that wipes out humanity could be brought about by artificial intelligence as soon as 2040, a leading security think tank has warned. Advances leading to'doomsday AI' machines could encourage nations to take apocalyptic risks with their nuclear arsenals, it claims. During the Cold War, a condition called mutually assured destruction (Mad) maintained an uneasy peace between the superpowers. Both sides of the conflict had little incentive to launch a nuclear attack, as it would have been met by a devastating retaliation that destroyed them. However, advances in AI may mean that this is no longer guaranteed, opening up the potential of taking out an enemy's ability to counter attack - and there may be no way to prevent such a future.