address in Washington , D.C. earlier today , former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger tell he ’s convinced of AI ’s potential to fundamentally alter human consciousness — including changes in our ego - sensing and to our strategical decision - devising . He also slammed AI developers for insufficiently thinking through the implications of their creations .
Kissinger , now 96 , was speaking to an consultation attending the “ Strength Through Innovation ” conference presently being held at the Liaison Washington Hotel in Washington , D.C. The group discussion is being move by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence , which was set up by Congress to evaluate the future of AI in the U.S. as it pertains to home security .
Kissinger , who process under President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War , is acontroversial figurewho many argue is an unconvictedwar criminal . That he ’s speaking at conferences and not spending his late age in a moth-eaten clink cell is clearly offensive to some observers .
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger speaking to an audience in Washington, D.C., on 15 April 2025.Image: (DVIDS)
Moderator Nadia Schadlow , who in 2018 served in the Trump administration as the Assistant to the President and as Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy , asked Kissinger about his take on powerful , militarized artificial intelligence and how it might affect world-wide security and strategical conclusion - qualification .
“ I do n’t look at it as a technical person , ” said Kissinger . “ I am concerned with the historical , philosophical , strategic view of it , and I ’ve become convinced that AI and the surrounding bailiwick are going to bring a change in human consciousness , like the Enlightenment , ” he say , add : “ That ’s why I ’m here . ” His invocation of the 18th - century European Enlightenment was a reference to the paradigmatic cerebral break that occurred during this important historic period , in which science , freethinking , and humanism mostly replaced religious and religion - based intellection .
Though Kissinger did n’t flesh out on this point , he may have been bring up to a kind of philosophical orexistential work shift in our thinkingonce AI reach a sufficiently advanced level of sophistication — a maturation that will irrevocably change the way we prosecute with ourselves and our motorcar , not needfully for the better .
Kissinger with moderator Nadia Schadlow.Image: (DVIDS)
Kissinger tell he ’s not “ argue against AI ” and that it ’s something that might even “ save us , ” without elaborating on the details .
The former national security advisor said he of late spoke to college students about the peril of AI and that he told them , “ ‘ You act upon on the applications programme , I work on the implications . ’ ” He said computer scientist are n’t doing enough to figure out what it will mean “ if man is wall by automatic legal action ” that can not be explain or fully understood by humans , a enigma AI researchers look up to as the black loge problem .
unreal intelligence , he aver , “ is bound to change the nature of strategy and warfare , ” but many stakeholder and determination - Almighty are still regale it as a “ new technical going away . ” They have n’t yet understood that AI “ must add a alteration in the philosophic perception of the reality , ” and that it will “ basically affect human perception . ”
https://gizmodo.com/ai-could-dramatically-increase-risk-of-nuclear-war-by-2-1825497698
A primary business organization phrase by Kissinger was in how militarized AI might induce discreetness to break down . The secret and short-lived nature of AI mean it ’s not something Department of State player can just “ put on the table ” as an obvious menace , unlike conventional or atomic artillery , said Kissinger . In the strategic field , “ we are moving into an area where you may imagine an extraordinary capability ” and the “ enemy may not know where the threat came from for a while . ”
Indeed , this mix-up could cause excessive chaos on a battlefield , or a country could mistake the source of an attempt . Even scarey , a2018 reportfrom the RAND Corporation warned that AI could eventually deepen the risk of nuclear war . This means we ’ll also have to “ rethink the element of limb control ” and “ rethink even how the construct of arm control ” might practice to this future world , enunciate Kissinger .
Kissinger say he ’s “ sort of obsessed ” with the work being done by Google ’s DeepMind , and the development ofAlphaGoandAlphaZeroin particular — by artificial means intelligent arrangement capable of kill the world ’s best players at chess and Go . He was taken aback by how AlphaGo see “ a mannikin of Bromus secalinus that no man being in all of history ever developed , ” and how pre - existent chess - playing computers who played against this AlphaGo were “ naked . ” He said we need to sleep together what this means in the magnanimous outline of matter , and that we should study this concern — that we ’re creating things we do n’t really read . “ We ’re not witting of this yet as a society , ” he aver .
Kissinger is confident that AI algorithm will eventually become a part of the armed forces ’s decision - make up process , but strategic contriver will “ have to test themselves in war games and even in actual situation to ensure the level of reliability we can afford to these algorithmic rule , while also bear to think through the consequences . ”
Kissinger pronounce the situation may eventually be correspondent to the onset of World War I , in which aseries of logical stepsled to a ten thousand of unanticipated and unwanted import .
“ If you do n’t see through the implication of the technologies … including your aroused content to wield irregular import , then you ’re plump to fail on the strategic side , ” said Kissinger . It ’s not clear , he said , how state actor will be able to conduct diplomacy when they ca n’t be sure what the other side is think , or if they ’ll even be able to reassure the other side “ even if you wanted to , ” he say . “ This subject is very important to remember about — as you develop artillery of great capacity … how do you verbalise about it , and how do you build chasteness on their consumption ? ”
To which he added : “ Your weapons in a manner become your cooperator , and if they ’re designed for a sure project , how can you modify them under sealed condition ? These questions postulate to be answered . ” AI will be the “ philosophical challenge of the future , ” said Kissinger , because we ’ll be partner with generally intelligent objects that have “ never been conceived before , and the limitations are so vast . ”
Scary word from a scary guy . The futurity count to become a very parlous place .
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