The Center for Strategic and International Studies is reporting in its Nuclear Policy News briefing that experts at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists have for years monitored the threat artificial intelligence poses to life on Earth as they set the hands of the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic representation of how close humanity is to self-annihilation. USA Today reported the concerns of Doomsday Clock expert Holz.
In Europe, The Independent reported that Sky's drama "The Wargame," in which Michael Gove plays a fictional prime minister who has 22 minutes to decide how to respond after Russia launches a hypersonic missile, has exposed a terrifying truth about Britain's nuclear defense. It said the scenario can no longer be dismissed.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Pope Leo XIV warned that a "paradise of machines" risked undermining humanity as he opened a trip to France, posing fundamental questions about what it means to be human in the age of artificial intelligence, a nuclear arms race and other threats to life itself.
On the Middle East, the Center on Global Energy Policy published an opinion piece by Matt Bowen and Richard Nephew arguing that a U.S.-Saudi nuclear cooperation agreement would serve U.S. interests. They said the agreement's safeguards mitigate risks and must be weighed against its nonproliferation and strategic benefits, noting Saudi development of enrichment capabilities appears unlikely in the near term and would require U.S. approval. The Economic Times reported that Iran said it is up to the United States to choose whether it wants to end the Iran war, and that Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons, saying it has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes as a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
On Asia, the Council on Foreign Relations published analysis by Chris McGuire on how to reach an AI arms control deal with China, saying a Trump-Xi summit in Washington has intensified pressure for a U.S.-China agreement on artificial intelligence, though a deal is extremely unlikely today. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration has been quietly holding talks with China about its rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal amid doubts over Beijing's compliance with a 30-year test ban, U.S. officials said.