Izumi Nakamitsu on Exploring the Geopolitics of Technology: Insights into Military Applications of AI

Podcast Episode

Izumi Nakamitsu on Exploring the Geopolitics of Technology: Insights into Military Applications of AI

By Konark Bhandari and Izumi Nakamitsu

Published on Dec 11, 2023

Episode Summary

In this episode of Interpreting India, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu joins Konark Bhandari to discuss the military applications of AI and the role of the UN in driving international governance on this issue. Who are the multiple stakeholders that have a voice when it comes to establishing a regulatory framework for military applications of AI? Why does the private sector need to be co-opted when discussing such regulatory frameworks?

Episode Notes

There are similarities between the UN’s efforts to pursue a disarmament strategy for nuclear weapons and the regulation of the military applications of AI. Given the multiple parallel initiatives on this issue, inputs would also have to be gathered from a range of stakeholders already working on the issue, such as the REAIM participants, the United States, and other countries, in order to regulate AI in the military domain. The private sector has a role here to drive governance on this topic as well, given that most of the technology emanates from their R&D efforts. Here, more regulation should not be seen as a roadblock to innovation; instead, it can accelerate it. This is because empirically-based regulations would allow the adoption of such AI systems to be faster. The lack of any such regulation could even lead to undesirable outcomes, which may hamper the growth of the industry.

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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