According to the White House, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed on Saturday that humans, not artificial intelligence, should decide whether to use nuclear weapons.
According to a White House statement, the two leaders reaffirmed the necessity of preserving human authority over the choice to employ nuclear weapons. The two leaders also emphasized the importance of carefully weighing the possible risks and developing AI technology in the military sector in a responsible and prudent way.
This point was reaffirmed in a summary of the meeting released by the Chinese government. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the Chinese foreign ministry.
Whether the statement would result in additional discussions or action on the matter was unclear. However, it represents a first-of-its-kind step between the two nations in their discussion of nuclear weapons and artificial intelligence, two topics on which progress has been elusive.
For months, Beijing has been under pressure from Washington to end its long-standing opposition to nuclear arms talks.
Negotiations between the two nations over nuclear weapons have stalled since they were briefly resumed in November. A senior U.S. official has publicly expressed frustration with China’s lack of responsiveness.
Although semi-official communication has resumed, formal nuclear arms control talks have not been anticipated anytime soon due to U.S. concerns about China’s rapid nuclear weapons build-up.
The United States and China began their first formal bilateral discussions on artificial intelligence in Geneva in May, but it is thought that the topic of nuclear weapons decision-making was not discussed.
Beijing currently has 500 nuclear warheads in operation, and by 2030, it is likely to have more than 1,000, according to a U.S. defense department estimate from last year.
In comparison, the United States and Russia have deployed 1,770 and 1,710 operational warheads, respectively. The Pentagon predicted that a large portion of Beijing’s arsenal would likely be kept at higher readiness levels by 2030.
Since 2020, China has also modernized its nuclear program, testing hypersonic glide vehicle warheads, launching regular nuclear-armed sea patrols, and beginning production of its next-generation ballistic missile submarine.
The “nuclear triad”—the possession of weapons on land, in the air, and at sea—is what distinguishes China as a major nuclear power.
China has not publicly disclosed its arsenal, but it does retain a minimal level of contemporary nuclear deterrent and a policy of no first use. Officials this year called on other authorities to follow suit.
During recent semi-official meetings with retired officials and professors from the United States, Chinese academics said that its policies had not altered and called Western evaluations “exaggerations.”
Despite frequently voiced concerns about China, North Korea, and Russia’s nuclear arsenals, a White House official previously stated that the Biden administration’s new confidential nuclear advice this year was “not a response to any single entity, country, nor threat.”
