A State Department official is pushing Thursday for China and Russia to declare that only humans – and not artificial intelligence – will make decisions on deploying nuclear weapons. Paul Dean, an official in the State Department's Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability, said during a press briefing that the U.S. has already made "a very clear and strong commitment that in cases of nuclear employment, that decision would only be made by a human being. "We would never defer a decision on nuclear employment to AI. We strongly stand by that statement and we've made it publicly with our colleagues in the UK and France," he continued. "We would welcome a similar statement by China and the Russian Federation," Dean added, noting that "we think it's an extremely important norm of responsible behavior." Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands in Moscow, Russia, in March 2023. The State Department has said that Secretary of State Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke about "artificial intelligence risks and safety" during a meeting last Friday in Beijing. "I do think that there is a real opportunity right now as countries increasingly turn to artificial intelligence to establish what the rules of responsible and stabilizing behavior will look like.

A senior U.S. official on Thursday urged China and Russia to match declarations by the United States and others that only humans, and never artificial intelligence, would make decisions on deploying nuclear weapons. State Department arms control official Paul Dean told an online briefing that Washington had made a "clear and strong commitment" that humans had total control over nuclear weapons, adding that France and Britain had done the same. "We would welcome a similar statement by China and the Russian Federation," said Dean, principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence and Stability.