United Nations launches initiative on military uses of artificial intelligence

The United Nations is launching an initiative on military uses of artificial intelligence to address concern that the rapidly developing technology threatens humanity, and the Geneva-based UN Institute for Disarmament Research will open the first international forum on military AI on Thursday.

Robin Geiss, head of UNIDIR, spoke at a United Nations press conference on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, and said “the margin for human judgment is increasingly narrow, including in the nuclear domain.” He said the narrowing margin applies in the nuclear domain.

Geiss said it is difficult to assess how close the world is to machines acting outside human control, calling that uncertainty the issue to resolve. He said “and it’s quite difficult to say at which point we’re actually really losing control.”

AI is entering military areas such as early warning systems, intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, making it hard to tell when humans could lose control. Geiss said the urgent issue of military AI should no longer linger in the shadows, and that it is time to confront it directly. “The time has come to pull our strengths and confront AI in the military head-on,” he said.

Geiss said governments long resisted AI guardrails, but the spread of capabilities and their impact now make acting on military AI urgent. The United Nations calls global AI competition a serious obstacle.

Concerns about AI’s effects cross geopolitical blocs and drive action by major powers. AI risks featured prominently in speeches by leaders of many of the United Nations’ 193 member nations at the annual high-level meeting last month.

Discussions on international norms for military AI had stalled, but the United Nations says it can no longer delay a response. Geiss cited a last-month proposal for the United States and China to set up an AI safety alert system for national-security threats.

UNIDIR created the Center of Excellence on AI, Peace and Security this summer. It is the United Nations’ first permanent platform focused on AI, peace and security. Geiss said the center received funding from all five major nuclear powers: the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

On Thursday, UNIDIR will launch a forum within the center to bring together participants from every relevant sector worldwide to work on military AI. SBS reports the forum will gather government officials, defense contractors, software developers, civil society and academic experts.

The institute will hold consultations this week with defense technology companies, software developers, subcontractors, investors, governments, civil society, academia and experts. ABC News reports that Robin Geiss was vague on exactly what the UNIDIR initiative will do, saying only that it would be part of other AI efforts launched by the center that week.

UNIDIR is developing a framework for responsible industry behavior that would offer practical, voluntary guidelines consistent with international law and human rights. The United Nations is also pushing voluntary codes of conduct for companies that develop military AI to keep development compliant with international law and human rights.

Geiss said company decisions on design and development determine whether AI-enabled military capabilities are reliable, predictable and lawful. UNIDIR is starting an effort on armed-group misuse of AI, saying such groups already use the technology for planning, execution and logistics.

SBS reports that the United Nations plans to initiate separate discussions to counter the risk of armed groups misusing AI.