BOAO, China – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday proposed a "global security initiative" that upholds the principle of "indivisible security," a concept also endorsed by Russia, although he gave no details of how it would be implemented. During a video speech to the annual Boao Asia Forum, Xi said that the world should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, while paying attention to the "legitimate" security concerns of all. "We should uphold the principle of indivisibility of security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the building of national security on the basis of insecurity in other countries," Xi told the gathering on the southern Chinese island of Hainan. In talks over Ukraine, Russia has insisted that Western governments respect a 1999 agreement based on the principle of "indivisible security" that no country can strengthen its own security at the expense of others'. China and Russia have grown increasingly close, and China has refused to condemn Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special operation" to demilitarize the country.

Artificial intelligence is a "world-altering" technology that represents "the most powerful tools in generations for expanding knowledge, increasing prosperity and enriching the human experience" and will be a source of enormous power for the companies and countries that harness them, according to the recently released Final Report of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. This is not hyperbole or a fantastical version of AI's potential impact. This is the assessment of a group of leading technologists and national security professionals charged with offering recommendations to Congress on how to ensure American leadership in AI for national security and defense. Concerningly, the group concluded that the U.S. is not currently prepared to defend American interests or compete in the era of AI. The NSCAI was chartered by Congress in August 2018 to review AI and related technologies and make recommendations to address U.S. national security and defense needs.

The world's militaries are close enough to wielding weapons that decide on their own whether to kill -- called Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems -- that the United Nations this week gathered a select few experts, including an ASU researcher, to separate fact from fear of robot overlords. Dr. Heather Roff, research scientist with ASU's Global Security Initiative and current Oxford senior research fellow, is testifying on the unintended risks of such weapons, and where many autonomous or semi-autonomous weapons currently exist. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence and human control. Dr. Heather Roff, researcher at ASU's Global Security Initiative, testifies at a UN meeting of experts to consider lethal autonomous weapons. Dr. Roff's testimony focuses on unintentional risks of autonomous weapons systems, including artificial intelligence and human control.