The dangers of AI eclipsed the dangers of nuclear weapons at a Defense Forum discussion on strategic stability in Singapore, as panelists warned that it could reduce reaction times to the point where people make hasty decisions.Lieutenant General Nauman Zakaria, commander of the Pakistani Army’s 1 Corps and Army Rocket Force Command, said the so-called “OODA loop” – an acronym for Observe, Orient, Decide and Act – creates a kind of fog in which “a human being cannot rapidly evaluate the situation.” “People will act irrationally, and the actions will be excessive,” he said Saturday during a discussion at the Shangri-La Dialogue.Those concerns were expressed by the only panelist not directly involved in defense and security, Mirjana Spoljarić, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross. He warned that although technology has the potential to improve life, it also significantly increases the risk of war.“We don’t know where the trigger was pulled,” SpoljaRick said. “This could be thousands of kilometers away. So although there is potential for AI to protect civilians, what we are seeing at the moment is only the downside.”Nuclear weapons, the classic example of strategic deterrence, still feature prominently in negotiations. Major General Meng Jiangqing of the People’s Liberation Army reaffirmed China’s no-first-use policy and said that if more countries adopted that position, the world would be a safer place. “If we can do that, we can reduce risk and further enhance strategic stability,” he said.The conversation repeatedly revolved around artificial intelligence. Netherlands defense chief General Onno Echelsheim said such technology had already appeared on the battlefield as Ukrainians had used it to anticipate Russian attacks. The US has also said it has deployed AI in planning Iranian attacks.“There is a huge risk in AI growth. I think that’s clear,” Echelsheim said. “But I’m not naive. It will be used in the domain. It’s already being used.”(This is a Bloomberg story)