Fifty years ago this month, in the midst of the Cold War, nations began signing an international treaty to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Today, as artificial intelligence and machine learning reshape every aspect of our lives, the world confronts a challenge of similar magnitude and it needs a similar response. There is a danger in pushing the parallel between nuclear weapons and AI too far. But the greater risk lies in ignoring the consequences of unleashing technologies whose goals are neither predictable nor aligned with our values. The immediate prelude to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

Fifty years ago this month, in the midst of the Cold War, nations began signing an international treaty to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. Today, as artificial intelligence and machine learning reshape every aspect of our lives, the world confronts a challenge of similar magnitude, and it needs a similar response. There is a danger in pushing the parallel between nuclear weapons and AI too far. But the greater risk lies in ignoring the consequences of unleashing technologies whose goals are neither predictable nor aligned with our values. The immediate prelude to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was the Cuban missile crisis in 1962.

VIENNA – Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida called on the international community Tuesday to strengthen the nuclear nonproliferation regime, citing the growing threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. Taking part in the preparatory committee for the 2020 review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in Vienna, the first Japanese foreign minister to do so, Kishida also urged cooperation between nuclear states and non-nuclear states to prevent the spread of nuclear arms. "North Korea has conducted two nuclear tests and launched more than 30 ballistic missiles since last year. Its nuclear and missile development has reached a new level and is posing a real threat to the region and beyond in the international community," Kishida told the committee. Kishida, a veteran House of Representatives lawmaker from Hiroshima, which was devastated by a U.S. atomic bombing in 1945, condemned North Korea's aggressive pursuit of nuclear development as posing a "challenge" to the disarmament and non-proliferation regime under the treaty.

VIENNA - The secretary-general of the United Nations joined other global leaders in praising Yukiya Amano, the late chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency who for a decade led the agency and was extensively involved in negotiations over Iran's nuclear program and the cleanup of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered condolences after the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency on Monday announced the death of Amano at age 72. Guterres said Amano "worked tirelessly to ensure that nuclear energy is used only for peaceful purposes." Amano confronted serious global challenges, including those related to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, with equanimity and determination. Our world is so much better for it." "May the Almighty bless his soul," Araghchi wrote on Twitter. Amano, who had wide experience in disarmament, nonproliferation diplomacy and nuclear energy issues, had been chief of the key U.N. agency that regulates nuclear use worldwide since 2009. The news of his death comes at a time of increasing concerns and escalating tensions over Iran's nuclear program, after U.S. President Donald Trump left a 2015 deal with world powers that restricted Iran's nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Amano was heavily involved in the yearslong negotiations that led to the landmark Iran nuclear deal. John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, said in a statement that Amano's "commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and his championing of peaceful nuclear energy have been unparalleled in leading the International Atomic Energy Agency for almost a decade … He will be sorely missed." There was reaction, too, from Japan. Foreign Minister Taro Kono hailed Amano's contribution to the international nuclear regulatory regime. "The government of Japan expresses its utmost respect for Director General Amano's leadership and contributions in life.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is hardly the first time a nuclear power has attacked a non-nuclear nation. That raises questions about the arguments for non-proliferation. If nuclear-weapon states can use their weapons to threaten the rest of us, or even hide behind them while launching conventional attacks on non-nuclear states, then a central pillar of nuclear non-proliferation is gone. But there is another crucial element of the non-proliferation regime that the invasion should focus attention on. And that is the requirement under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty for nuclear-weapon states "to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control". To date, nuclear-weapon states have shown much less eagerness in complying with this requirement to completely disarm compared with the zeal they have exhibited in enforcing the obligations of non-nuclear states.