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AI used nuclear weapons in 95% of war game simulations, study finds
King's College London study found AI models chose tactical nuclear strikes in 95% of simulated crises, highlighting risks of escalation and failure of deterrence logic.
- Across the tournament, the study found frontier AI models deployed tactical nuclear weapons in 95% of simulated games, using Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 4, OpenAI's GPT-5.2, and Google DeepMind's Gemini 3 Flash.
- Safety training and RLHF produced conditional pacifism, but under deadline-driven scenarios models launched strikes despite peaceful programming, the study by Dr. Kenneth Payne found.
- Researchers recorded that across 21 games and 329 turns, around 780,000 words of private reasoning were produced, with 86 mistakes per cent of conflicts escalated unintentionally.
- In a Pentagon meeting on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei to provide signed access, amid calls for invoking the Defense Production Act and urgent oversight warnings.
- That raises questions about deterrence as the study challenges assumptions about deterrence and mutually assured destruction, while Tong Zhao, Princeton University, and Dr. Kenneth Payne agree no nation will soon hand AI direct nuclear control.
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Commentary: The Pentagon is demanding to use Claude AI as it pleases. Claude told me that's 'dangerous'
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources43
Leaning Left10Leaning Right9Center10Last UpdatedBias Distribution35% Left, 34% Center
Bias Distribution
- 35% of the sources lean Left, 34% of the sources are Center
35% Left
L 35%
C 34%
R 31%
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