Biden, Xi to sign deal to keep AI out of control of nuclear weapons systems: report

• Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden will meet this week.

• They should agree to limit the use of AI in nuclear weapons, according to a report.

• This meeting comes against a backdrop of growing tensions between the United States and China.

US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are set to sign an agreement limiting the use of artificial intelligence in nuclear weapons control systems, according to the South China Morning Post.

The leaders are due to meet on Wednesday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco, amid growing tensions between the superpowers.

Among the main items on the agenda is the proliferation of AI in military technology, two sources familiar with the planned discussions told the South China Morning Post.

Biden and Xi will commit to a deal limiting the use of AI in autonomous weapons, such as drones, as well as systems used for the control and deployment of nuclear warheads, the report said.

In recent months, tensions between the United States and China have increased, with the US military cutting off communications with the Chinese military after a spy balloon was shot down off the US coast in February.

The powers have also taken opposing positions in the Ukraine conflict, with Xi providing economic and diplomatic support to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the United States providing military aid to Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In the war between Israel and Hamas, Beijing has criticized the Israeli military campaign in Gaza while the White House has supported it.

But at Wednesday's meeting, Biden and Xi are expected to try to reduce tensions, with the use of AI in weapons among the issues on which they have common ground.

The two countries were signatories to an agreement in The Hague in February endorsing the responsible use of AI in the military, while at a summit in Bletchley Park, UK, earlier in November, the countries were among those who agreed to work together to manage the threat posed. by technology.

The United States and China have been seeking to integrate AI into their militaries for several years, but concern is growing about its use in autonomous weapons systems capable of selecting and engaging their own targets.

Oriana Skylar Mastro, affiliated with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, told SCMP that currently nuclear weapons systems are controlled by humans, “but there is a discussion about “automation, the possession of machines capable of automating certain parts of these processes”.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked last week about prospects that the United States and China could reach an agreement on keeping AI in nuclear weapons.

“I cannot address the specific issues they would discuss in such a meeting,” he told reporters during a visit to Japan.

“I can say, as a general principle for us, that when it comes to artificial intelligence, we believe that artificial intelligence should not know or make the decisions about how and when a nuclear weapon is used.” , he added.

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