SUA Students Confront the Risks of AI and Nuclear Weapons

• Campus News

In April, several SUA students attended "Silicon, Swords, and Ploughshares: The Perils and Promise of AI in the Nuclear and Biological Domains," a conference on the growing risks surrounding artificial intelligence and weapons of mass destruction. Hosted by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, California, it drew more than 100 participants from AI companies, national laboratories, foreign ministries, universities, research institutions, and other organizations working at the intersection of emerging technology and global security.

Over two days, participants examined how rapid advances in AI could affect nuclear and biological security and what kinds of research, governance, and safeguards are needed to preserve meaningful human control over such existential risks - and what the experience revealed about their own role in a world where those questions are no longer hypothetical.

Aarna Marwa '29
Hometown: Laguna Hills, California

I was especially struck by how the participants valued every human life and embodied the ideal of global citizenship within their lives and careers. Through meaningful dialogue, I realized that through my passions and training here at SUA, I could live a truly value-creating future, just as many speakers at the conference are doing. Seeing the care of so many people renewed my drive to return to SUA and work toward my goals and contribute to humanity.

I believe that being a global citizen means valuing each life as irreplaceable, and many of the speakers at the conference held that same belief. I am determined to apply this understanding to my own life and live my future as a global citizen.

Coming back to campus, I was left with a much stronger sense of purpose. More than anything said during the conference, what has stayed with me is a lasting hope and renewed motivation to work alongside these scholars for the betterment and safety of our world.

Shota Maeda '27
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan

Attending the conference deepened my determination to contribute to nuclear abolition as an aspiring expert on this issue. Although AI itself has the potential to greatly advance human development, as long as nuclear weapons exist in this world, there is a risk of misusing AI to make nuclear catastrophe quicker and more destructive. Therefore, I now feel a greater responsibility, as a human being, to help ensure that people can live free from the fear of nuclear war while still benefiting from technological development.

One idea that has stayed with me after the conference is the importance of morals and ethics in regulating technology and controlling the fundamental temptation toward violence. In a world with AI and nuclear weapons, what is needed most is a philosophy that places the utmost value on human life and fosters self-restraint in the use of power.