United Nations disarmament research institute warns that artificial intelligence is crowding out human judgment in warfare

21 October 2026

Robin Geiss, Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, briefed journalists at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 20 October 2026.
He said artificial intelligence is already widely used on the battlefield and that human judgment in military operations is shrinking rapidly.
AI is taking on intelligence analysis, target identification, drone operations and the orchestration of cyber-attacks, including in the nuclear domain.
He said many such systems are opaque, which raises the risk of error, miscalculation and unintended escalation.
Geopolitical competition is a serious obstacle to regulating military AI, although concern about the risks is shared across political views.
The Institute's Centre of Excellence on AI, Peace and Security is launching a multi-stakeholder forum on AI in international peace and security.
The forum will work on a voluntary framework for industry, an AI security lexicon, and the risk of misuse by non-State armed groups.