US and China experts push for shared rules banning AI control over nuclear weapons
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Experts from the United States and China are proposing shared rules to prevent AI systems from making autonomous decisions about launching nuclear weapons. Melanie Sisson of the Brookings Institution and Tianjiao Jiang of Fudan University presented the proposals ahead of a planned September 24 meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. Their proposed red lines would prohibit AI from launching nuclear weapons or attacking nuclear command systems, while requiring humans to retain sole control over AI-driven cyberattacks on strategic infrastructure. The experts also want both countries to agree on a common definition of human control, building on a November 2024 Biden-Xi agreement. Jiang has proposed an AI-incident hotline to prevent defensive automated responses from being mistaken for attacks. Similar warnings were issued by the NSCAI in 2021, but no binding mechanisms exist, and Carla Freeman has questioned whether a hotline would work given that China did not answer a US call during the 2023 spy balloon crisis.
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