Inadvertent escalation in the age of intelligence machines: a new model for nuclear risk in the digital age/ James Johnson

Will AI-enabled capabilities increase inadvertent escalation risk? This article revisits Cold War-era thinking about inadvertent escalation to consider how Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology (especially AI augmentation of advanced conventional weapons) through various mechanisms and pathways could affect inadvertent escalation risk between nuclear-armed adversaries during a conventional crisis or conflict. Are existing notions of inadvertent escalation still relevant in the digital age? The article speaks to the broader scholarship in International Relations - notably 'bargaining theories of war' - that argues that the impact of technology on the cause of war occurs through its political effects, rather than tactical or operational battlefield alterations.

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