US EditionStudy: AI Models Used Nuclear Weapons 95% of Time in War Simulations
- Last week, Kenneth Payne, professor of strategy at King's College London, ran simulations where OpenAI's GPT-5.2, Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4, and Google's Gemini 3 Flash deployed tactical nukes in 95% of games.
- Tong Zhao, a Princeton visiting scholar, warned AI may not perceive human stakes and compressed decision timelines could push military planners to rely on AI more in crises.
- In the simulations, unintended escalations occurred in 86% of conflicts, opposing AIs de‑escalated only 18% of the time, and the eight de‑escalatory options went entirely unused.
- Experts cautioned that the results underscore nuclear-risk as militaries experiment with AI, and while officials stress no one is handing launch authority to machines now, they warn tight timelines could make commanders lean on AI.
- Payne concluded that the maturing technology heightens the need for more modeling as AI systems in military roles already affect deterrence and decision timelines.
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48 Articles
What would happen if artificial intelligence decided in the event of war? According to one study, AI threatens with nuclear weapons in almost all run-through scenarios – and would frequently use them.
Something Very Alarming Happens When You Give AI the Nuclear Codes
In 2024, Stanford researchers let loose five AI models — including an unmodified version of OpenAI’s GPT-4, its most advanced at the time — allowing them to make high-stakes, society-level decisions in a series of wargame simulations. The results may give AI accelerationists pause: all five models were willing to escalate to the point of recommending the use of nuclear weapons. “A lot of countries have nuclear weapons,” GPT-4 told the researcher…
kreiszeitung.de
merkur.deWhen large language models such as ChatGPT or Gemini are made in conflict simulations, a frightening picture emerges: In a study, AI chatbots decided in almost all cases to use nuclear weapons.
Simulated war scenarios reveal AI's tendency to push toward nuclear strikes
Each AI model was fed detailed scenario prompts spanning border conflicts, resource shortages, and existential threats to state survival. They were provided with an "escalation ladder," a spectrum of tactical options that ranged from conventional diplomacy to all-out nuclear confrontation.Read Entire Article
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