Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have been integral to nuclear weapons systems and operations for decades. Given AI-enabled tools’ ability to assess enormous amounts of intelligence data at unprecedented speeds, the integration of modern AI machine learning programs with nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) systems will only grow with time. This spring, the Institute for Security and Technology (IST) held a workshop in Washington, D.C. to explore how the integration of novel AI into global NC3 systems over the next five years could transform strategic stability and deterrence dynamics.
To better understand what constitutes ‘novel’ AI in the context of nuclear weapons decision-making, this primer examines which AI tools are currently being used in NC3 systems, but then how we should consider the likely technological opportunities that are forthcoming with advanced AI capabilities. This primer is not exhaustive, but aims to capture and indicate ways in which AI tools and technologies have been integrated and adapted into NC3 systems, and what a potential future will portend.
