Reps Jacobs And Lieu Praise Armed Services Committee For Including Provision In Defense Authorization Bill To Prevent Autonomous Ai From Launching Nuclear Weapons
Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-CA) and Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-Los Angeles County) announced that language to prevent AI from autonomously launching nuclear weapons was included in the Fiscal Year 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that recently passed through the House Armed Services Committee. If signed into law, the language would codify existing policy that states a human must be kept “in the loop” for all nuclear launch decisions. Congressman Lieu introduced the bipartisan Block Nuclear Launch by Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Act in 2023, and Congresswoman Jacobs, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, spearheaded the effort in Committee to include the bill’s language in the text of the FY25 NDAA.
“AI should never have the final say in deploying nuclear weapons, which pose one of the biggest threats to human life,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs. “We’ve seen that AI consistently makes more aggressive and escalatory decisions than humans in war game simulations, including launching nuclear weapons. That’s why I’m so proud that the House Armed Services Committee passed my amendment to ensure that humans are involved in every step of decision-making regarding nuclear weapons. In today’s political climate, it’s hard to get unanimous support for anything – but I hope that my colleagues will agree this is a non-controversial and common-sense step to protect human life and our planet.”
“Artificial Intelligence technology can never be a substitute for human judgment when making nuclear launch decisions,” said Rep. Ted Lieu. “Even the most advanced AI frontier models can have errors and can hallucinate. That is why we need this law to protect future generations from potentially devastating consequences. I am grateful to Representative Jacobs for championing my bill in the House Armed Services Committee and am pleased to see the language included in the final text that passed through the committee. If signed into law, this provision will ensure that a human being – and not a machine – makes the decision on whether to launch a nuclear weapon.”