Proposed US Law Bans AI From Launching Nuclear Weapons

pcmag.com:

Bipartisan lawmakers in the Senate and the House have grouped together to introduce a bill that would prevent AI from being used to launch a nuclear weapon.

Announced(Opens in a new window) earlier this week, the Block Nuclear Launch by Autonomous AI Act seeks to codify current Pentagon rules(Opens in a new window) for nuclear weapons which already require human decision-making when it comes to their launch.

Those rules read: “In all cases, the United States will maintain a human ‘in the loop’ for all actions critical to informing and executing decisions by the President to initiate and terminate nuclear weapon employment.”

The bill (which can be read here(Opens in a new window)) explicitly says that “any decision to launch a nuclear weapon should not be made by artificial intelligence” and that no autonomous system “without meaningful human oversight” should launch a nuclear weapon or “select or engage targets” with the intention of launching one. 

The bill was introduced by Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) and Representatives Ted Lieu (D-CA), Don Beyer (D-VA), and Ken Buck (R-CO). It was co-sponsored by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)

Introducing the bill, Senator Markey said: “As we live in an increasingly digital age, we need to ensure that humans hold the power alone to command, control, and launch nuclear weapons - not robots…We need to keep humans in the loop on making life or death decisions to use deadly force, especially for our most dangerous weapons.”

Representative Lieu added: “...AI can never be a substitute for human judgment when it comes to launching nuclear weapons. I’m grateful to Representatives Beyer and Buck and Senator Markey for their work on this