AI in the information ecosystem and its impact on nuclear escalation

AI tools can generate realistic deepfakes, synthetic feeds, and fabricated accounts at scale, that could flood analysts during crises with large volumes of information that overload their capabilities. Consequently, AI brings a significant possibility of elevating nuclear escalation risks by amplifying disinformation, overloading analysts, compressing decision timelines, and exploiting cognitive and institutional vulnerabilities in sociotechnical systems for nuclear command and control.Here are three hypothetical, yet plausible, scenarios where AI could have a role in nuclear escalation: Taiwan, a US-North Korean confrontation, and a NATO exercise triggering a crisis in Europe.