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AI era can benefit from lessons of the nuclear arms race

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Mohammed A. Al-Qarni
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Mohammed A. Al-Qarni

AI era can benefit from lessons of the nuclear arms race

Author
Mohammed A. Al-Qarni
AI era can benefit from lessons of the nuclear arms race
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Every so often, news emerges of an advanced AI model outperforming its predecessor, restarting debates about the trajectory of AI. These incremental improvements, while impressive, also reignite discussions about the prospect of artificial general intelligence or AGI — a hypothetical AI that could match or exceed human cognitive abilities across the board.

This potential technological leap brings to mind another transformative innovation of the 20th century: nuclear power. Both promise unprecedented capabilities but carry risks that could reshape or even end human civilization as we know it.

The development of AI, like nuclear technology, offers remarkable opportunities and grave dangers. It could solve humanity’s most significant challenges or become our ultimate undoing. The nuclear arms race taught us the perils of unchecked technological advancement. Are we heeding those lessons in the AI era?

The creation of nuclear weapons introduced the concept of mutually assured destruction. With AGI, we face not only existential risks of extinction but also the prospect of extreme suffering and a world where human life loses meaning.

Imagine a future where superintelligent systems surpass human creativity, taking over all jobs. The very fabric of human purpose could unravel.

Should it be developed, controlling AGI would be akin to maintaining perfect safety in a nuclear reactor — theoretically possible but practically fraught with challenges. While we have managed nuclear technology for decades, AGI presents unique difficulties.

Unlike static nuclear weapons, AGI could learn, self-modify, and interact unpredictably. A nuclear incident, however catastrophic, allows for recovery. An AGI breakout might offer no such luxury.

The timeline for AGI remains uncertain and hotly debated. While some “optimistic” predictions suggest it could arrive within years, many experts believe it is still decades away, if achievable at all.

Regardless, the stakes are too high to be complacent. Do we have the equivalent of International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards for AI development? Our current methods for assessing AI capabilities seem woefully inadequate for truly understanding the potential risks and impacts of more advanced systems.

The open nature of scientific research accelerated both nuclear and AI development. But while open-source software has proven its value, transitioning from tools to autonomous agents introduces unprecedented dangers. Releasing powerful AI systems into the wild could have unforeseen consequences.

The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink but also ushered in an era of arms control treaties. We need similar global cooperation on AI safety — and fast.

We must prioritize robust international frameworks for AI development and deployment, increased funding for AI safety research, public education on the potential impacts of AGI, and ethical guidelines that all AI researchers and companies must adhere to. It is a tough ask.

With AGI, we face not only existential risks of extinction but also the prospect of extreme suffering and a world where human life loses meaning.

Mohammed A. Alqarni

However, as we consider these weighty issues, it is crucial to recognize the current limitations of AI technology.

The large language models that have captured the public imagination, while impressive, are fundamentally pattern recognition and prediction systems. They lack true understanding, reasoning capabilities, or the ability to learn and adapt in the way human intelligence does.

While these systems show remarkable capabilities, there's an ongoing debate in the AI community about whether they represent a path toward AGI or if fundamentally different approaches will be needed.

In fact, many experts believe that achieving AGI may require additional scientific breakthroughs that are not currently available. We may need new insights into the nature of consciousness, cognition, and intelligence — breakthroughs potentially as profound as those that ushered in the nuclear age.

This perspective offers both reassurance and a call to action.

Reassurance comes from understanding that AGI is not an inevitability based on our current trajectory. We have time to carefully consider the ethical implications, develop robust safety measures, and create international frameworks for responsible AI development.

However, the call to action is to use this time wisely, investing in foundational research not just in AI but also in cognitive science, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind.

As we navigate the future of AI, let us approach it with a balance of excitement and caution. We should harness the immense potential of current AI technologies to solve pressing global challenges while simultaneously preparing for a future that may include more advanced forms of AI.

By fostering global cooperation, ethical guidelines, and a commitment to human-centric AI development, we can work towards a future where AI enhances rather than endangers human flourishing.

The parallels with nuclear technology remind us of the power of human ingenuity and the importance of responsible innovation. Just as we have learned to harness nuclear power for beneficial purposes while avoiding global catastrophe so far, we have an opportunity to shape the future of AI in a way that amplifies human potential rather than diminishing it.

The path forward requires vigilance, collaboration, and an unwavering commitment to the betterment of humanity. In this endeavor, our human wisdom and values are the most critical components of all.

• Mohammed A. Alqarni is an academic and consultant on AI for business.
 

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News' point of view

Global temperatures stuck at near-record highs in April: EU monitor

Global temperatures stuck at near-record highs in April: EU monitor
Updated 21 min 38 sec ago
AFP
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Global temperatures stuck at near-record highs in April: EU monitor

Global temperatures stuck at near-record highs in April: EU monitor
  • Burning fossil fuels largely blamed for global warming that has made extreme weather disasters more frequent and intense
  • Scientists say the current period is likely to be the warmest the Earth has been for the last 125,000 years
Updated 21 min 38 sec ago
AFP

PARIS: Global temperatures were stuck at near-record highs in April, the EU’s climate monitor said on Thursday, extending an unprecedented heat streak and raising questions about how quickly the world might be warming.
The extraordinary heat spell was expected to subside as warmer El Niño conditions faded last year, but temperatures have stubbornly remained at record or near-record levels well into this year.
“And then comes 2025, when we should be settling back, and instead we are remaining at this accelerated step-change in warming,” said Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
“And we seem to be stuck there. What this is caused (by) — what is explaining it — is not entirely resolved, but it’s a very worrying sign,” he told AFP.
In its latest bulletin, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said that April was the second-hottest in its dataset, which draws on billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations.

All but one of the last 22 months exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the warming limit enshrined in the Paris agreement, beyond which major and lasting climate and environmental changes become more likely.


Many scientists believe this target is no longer attainable and will be crossed in a matter of years.
A large study by dozens of pre-eminent climate scientists, which has not yet been peer reviewed, recently concluded that global warming reached 1.36C in 2024.
Copernicus puts the current figure at 1.39C and projects 1.5C could be reached in mid 2029 or sooner based on the warming trend over the last 30 years.
“Now it’s in four years’ time. The reality is we will exceed 1.5 degrees,” said Samantha Burgess of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs Copernicus.
“The critical thing is to then not latch onto two degrees, but to focus on 1.51,” the climate scientist told AFP.
Julien Cattiaux, a climate scientist at the French research institute CNRS, said 1.5C “would be beaten before 2030” but that was not a reason to give up.
“It’s true that the figures we’re giving are alarming: the current rate of warming is high. They say every 10th of a degree counts, but right now, they’re passing quickly,” he told AFP.
“Despite everything, we mustn’t let that hinder action.”

This photograph shows a general view of the Atacama Desert covered by flowers in Copiapo, Chile, taken on July 10, 2024. (AFP)

Scientists are unanimous that burning fossil fuels has largely driven long-term global warming that has made extreme weather disasters more frequent and intense.
But they are less certain about what else might have contributed to this persistent heat event.
Experts think changes in global cloud patterns, airborne pollution and Earth’s ability to store carbon in natural sinks like forests and oceans, could be factors also contributing to the planet overheating.
The surge pushed 2023 and then 2024 to become the hottest years on record, with 2025 tipped to be third.

Smoke pours from the exhaust pipes on a truck on November 05, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (AFP)

“The last two years... have been exceptional,” said Burgess.
“They’re still within the boundary — or the envelope — of what climate models predicted we could be in right now. But we’re at the upper end of that envelope.”
She said that “the current rate of warming has accelerated but whether that’s true over the long term, I’m not comfortable saying that,” adding that more data was needed.
Copernicus records go back to 1940 but other sources of climate data — such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons — allow scientists to expand their conclusions using evidence from much further into the past.
Scientists say the current period is likely to be the warmest the Earth has been for the last 125,000 years.
 

Topics: climate change Copernicus Climate Change Service

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Knicks rally for another road win over Celtics, lead set 2-0

Knicks rally for another road win over Celtics, lead set 2-0
Updated 44 min 30 sec ago
Reuters
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Knicks rally for another road win over Celtics, lead set 2-0

Knicks rally for another road win over Celtics, lead set 2-0
Updated 44 min 30 sec ago
Reuters

Jalen Brunson made two free throws with 12.7 seconds to play, lifting the New York Knicks to a 91-90 win over the host Boston Celtics on Wednesday and a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Boston had a chance to recover in the final seconds, but Mikal Bridges knocked the ball away from Jayson Tatum and New York took possession.
Josh Hart had a game-high 23 points for New York, which trailed by 20 points in the third quarter and by 16 in the fourth. The Knicks received 21 points and 17 rebounds from Karl-Anthony Towns. Bridges put up 14 points — all in the fourth quarter.
Brunson, finished with 17 points and a game-high seven assists, said of the decisive foul shots, “I got up there, heard the noise and then I just tried to block everything out. And then I made two.”
Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said, “We started slowly, got in a big hole, dug out way out and then guys made a lot of tough plays. (Our players) were at their best when their best was needed down the stretch.”
Derrick White and Jaylen Brown each scored 20 points for the Celtics.
“They made the necessary plays to win,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said of the Knicks. “We put ourselves in position to do that and we just didn’t make the plays (down the stretch).
“You just take a look at it and figure out where you have to be better and put a full 48 minutes together. Have an understanding that it’s going to be difficult, but that’s why we do what we do. Figure out where we have to get better and do that. We got to get on the road and we got to find a way to win.”
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series will be played Saturday in New York.
New York took its first lead on a Brunson layup that made it 87-86 with 1:59 to play. Another Brunson layup capped a 21-2 run that stretched New York’s lead to three points before two Tatum free throws pulled the Celtics within one point with 44.9 seconds left.
Boston took a 90-89 lead on a Tatum dunk with 18.5 seconds to go, but Brunson knocked down two free throws on the ensuing possession.
Tatum, who averaged 26.8 points per game during the regular season, was held to 13 points, but he grabbed 14 rebounds.
Boston also received eight points off the bench from Kristaps Porzingis, who didn’t play in the second half of Game 1 because of an illness. Porzingis played 14 minutes in Game 2.
The Celtics played without Sam Hauser, who sustained an ankle injury in the third quarter of Game 1.
Boston led 24-13 after one quarter on Wednesday and 50-41 at halftime. The Celtics were up by 16 before the Knicks finished the second quarter on an 11-4 run. Tatum was held to two points in the first half.
The Celtics extended their lead to 70-50 on a Porzingis dunk with 4:05 remaining in the third, but New York scored the final eight points in the quarter to cut Boston’s lead to 73-61 entering the final frame.
Boston was again foiled by poor 3-point shooting. The Celtics were 10 of 40 (25 percent) from long range on Wednesday after going 15 of 60 (25 percent) in their overtime loss on Monday, when they also squandered a 20-point lead.
“The way the game goes now, you can make up ground a lot quicker with the way teams shoot threes,” Thibodeau said. “For the writers around us, they always think every lead is safe, but it’s not. Everything does matter.”

Topics: New York knicks Boston Celtics National Basketball Association (NBA)

A rare New Zealand snail is filmed for the first time laying an egg from its neck

A rare New Zealand snail is filmed for the first time laying an egg from its neck
Updated 49 min 39 sec ago
AP
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A rare New Zealand snail is filmed for the first time laying an egg from its neck

A rare New Zealand snail is filmed for the first time laying an egg from its neck
  • What looks like a tiny hen’s egg is seen emerging from an opening below the head of the Powelliphanta augusta snail, a threatened species endemic to New Zealand
Updated 49 min 39 sec ago
AP

WELLINGTON, New Zealand: The strange reproductive habits of a large, carnivorous New Zealand snail were once shrouded in mystery. Now footage of the snail laying an egg from its neck has been captured for the first time, the country’s conservation agency said Wednesday.
What looks like a tiny hen’s egg is seen emerging from an opening below the head of the Powelliphanta augusta snail, a threatened species endemic to New Zealand.
The video was taken at a facility on the South Island’s West Coast, where conservation rangers attempting to save the species from extinction have cared for a population of the snails in chilled containers for nearly two decades.
The conditions in the containers mimic the alpine weather in their only former habitat — a remote mountain they were named for, on the West Coast of the South Island, that has been engulfed by mining.
Observing their habits
Lisa Flanagan from the Department of Conservation, who has worked with the creatures for 12 years, said the species still holds surprises.
“It’s remarkable that in all the time we’ve spent caring for the snails, this is the first time we’ve seen one lay an egg,” she said in a statement.
Like other snails, Powelliphanta augusta are hermaphrodites, which explains how the creatures can reproduce when encased in a hard shell. The invertebrate uses a genital pore on the right side of its body, just below the head, to simultaneously exchange sperm with another snail, which is stored until each creates an egg.
A long but slow reproductive life
Each snail takes eight years to reach sexual maturity, after which it lays about five eggs a year. The egg can take more than a year to hatch.
“Some of our captive snails are between 25 and 30 years old,” said Flanagan. “They’re polar opposites to the pest garden snail we introduced to New Zealand, which is like a weed, with thousands of offspring each year and a short life.”
The dozens of species and subspecies of Powelliphanta snails are only found in New Zealand, mostly in rugged forest and grassland settings where they are threatened by habitat loss.
They are carnivores that slurp up earthworms like noodles, and are some of the world’s largest snails , with oversized, distinctive shells in a range of rich earth colors and swirling patterns.
A political storm
The Powelliphanta augusta was the center of public uproar and legal proceedings in the early 2000s, when an energy company’s plans to mine for coal threatened to destroy the snails’ habitat.
Some 4,000 were removed from the site and relocated, while 2,000 more were housed in chilled storage in the West Coast town of Hokitika to ensure the preservation of the species, which is slow to breed and doesn’t adapt well to new habitats.
In 2011, some 800 of the snails accidentally died in a Department of Conservation refrigerator with faulty temperature control.
But the species’ slow survival continues: In March this year, there were nearly 1,900 snails and nearly 2,200 eggs in captivity, the conservation agency said.

Topics: snail New Zealand

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US denounces Russian obstruction in UN sanctions on North Korea

US denounces Russian obstruction in UN sanctions on North Korea
Updated 08 May 2025
AFP
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US denounces Russian obstruction in UN sanctions on North Korea

US denounces Russian obstruction in UN sanctions on North Korea
  • US envoy charged that Russia's obstructions was its way to avoid facing reproach for using Pyongyang’s weapons in the war against Ukraine
  • Last year, Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution, ending the UN sanctions monitoring system for Pyongyang’s sanctions
Updated 08 May 2025
AFP

NEW YORK CITY: At the United Nations Wednesday, the United States denounced Russia for “cynically obstructing” the monitoring of North Korea’s compliance with sanctions, in Moscow’s bid to avoid facing reproach for using Pyongyang’s weapons in the war against Ukraine.
Several members of the Security Council, including the US and South Korea, convened a meeting Wednesday to ensure member states are “aware of sanctions violations and evasion activity” that generates revenue for North Korea’s “unlawful” weapons of mass destruction and “ballistic missile programs despite Russia’s veto,” said interim US ambassador Dorothy Shea.
In March 2024, Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution, ending the UN sanctions monitoring system for Pyongyang’s sanctions.
Sanctions were implemented in 2006, and were strengthened several times by the Security Council, but the committee responsible for such monitoring no longer exists.
Shea alleges that since late 2023, North Korean has transferred over 24,000 containers of munitions and munitions-related material, and more than 100 ballistic missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine.
“The DPRK continues brazenly to violate the Council’s resolutions by exporting coal and iron ore to China, the proceeds of which directly fund its unlawful WMD and ballistic missile programs,” Shea said.
“It is clear from evidence presented today that Russia is cynically obstructing the Council on DPRK sanctions implementation in order to try to escape reproach for its own violations.”
South Korean Ambassador Joonkook Hwang agreed, denouncing the “illegal military cooperation between Russia and North Korea,” saying it has “severely undermined the Security Council sanctions regime on North Korea and threatens regional and global peace and security.
In May 2022, Russia and China vetoed a resolution imposing new sanctions against Pyongyang, and have advocated for easing sanctions since 2019.
The current sanctions on North Korea have no end date.
 

Topics: North Korean missiles UNSC

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Apple’s plan to offer AI search options on Safari a blow to Google dominance

Apple’s plan to offer AI search options on Safari a blow to Google dominance
Updated 08 May 2025
Reuter
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Apple’s plan to offer AI search options on Safari a blow to Google dominance

Apple’s plan to offer AI search options on Safari a blow to Google dominance
  • Apple could add OpenAI, Perplexity as future search options
  • The news slammed shares of Google-parent Alphabet, wiping off roughly $150 billion from its market value
Updated 08 May 2025
Reuter

Apple’s plans to add AI-powered search options to its Safari browser are a big blow to Google, whose lucrative advertising business relies significantly on iPhone customers using its search engine.
The news slammed shares of Google-parent Alphabet, which closed down 7.3 percent, wiping off roughly $150 billion from its market value.
The iPhone maker was “actively looking at” reshaping Safari, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters, citing Apple executive Eddy Cue who was offering testimony at an antitrust case on Wednesday over Google’s dominance in online search.
Cue said searches on Safari fell for the first time last month due to users increasingly turning to AI, according to the source. Apple stock closed down 1.1 percent.
Google said that it continued to see growth in the overall number of search queries, including “total queries coming from Apple’s devices and platforms,” according to a statement posted on the company’s blog.
“People are seeing that Google Search is more useful for more of their queries — and they’re accessing it for new things and in new ways,” the company wrote.
Google cited voice and visual search features as contributors to total search volume growth. It was unclear whether Cue was using the same basis of comparison in his testimony when analizing types of searches.
Still, the Apple executive’s comments suggests that a seismic shift in search is likely underway, threatening Google’s dominant search business — a go-to advertising destination for marketers that has now become a target for US antitrust regulators, which filed two major lawsuits against the company.
Google is the default search engine on Apple’s browser, a coveted position for which it pays the iPhone maker roughly $20 billion a year, or about 36 percent of its search advertising revenue generated through the Safari browser, analysts have estimated.
Banning Google from paying companies to be the default search engine is among the remedies that the US Justice Department has proposed to break up its dominance in online search.
“The loss of exclusivity at Apple should have very severe consequences for Google even if there are no further measures,” D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said.
“Many advertisers have all of their search advertising with Google because it is practically a monopoly with almost 90 percent share. If there were other viable alternatives for search, many advertisers could move much of their ad budgets away from Google,” Luria said.
Google is not defenseless.
Written off as an also-ran in the AI race by critics after ChatGPT’s buzzy launch in late 2022, Google has reached into its deep pockets to fund its AI efforts and leverage its vast data trove.
The company introduced an “AI mode” on its search page earlier this year, looking to retain its millions of users from going away to other AI models.
It recently expanded AI Overviews — summaries that appear atop the traditional hyperlinks to relevant webpages on a search query — for users in more than 100 countries, and added advertisements to feature, boosting Search ad sales.
CEO Sundar Pichai said in a testimony at an antitrust trial last month that Google hopes to enter an agreement with Apple by the middle of this year to include its Gemini AI technology on new phones.
Apple’s Cue on Wednesday also said the company would add AI search providers, including OpenAI and Perplexity AI, as search options in the future, Bloomberg reported.
“(Apple’s plan) also shows how far generative search sites, such as ChatGPT and Perplexity have come,” said Yory Wurmser, principal analyst for advertising, media & technology at eMarketer.
That Google is willing to pay tens of billions of dollars to remain the default search engine shows how crucial the agreements are, Wurmser said.
For instance, ChatGPT in April reported seeing over 1 billion weekly web searches for its search feature. It has more than 400 million weekly active users, as of February

Topics: Apple Safari Google

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