NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – The United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research is launching a new forum on artificial intelligence in international peace and security on Thursday. The initiative also covers the use of AI in the military domain. It is being set up by the institute’s Centre of Excellence on AI, Peace and Security. UNIDIR describes it as the first and only multi-stakeholder forum of its kind within the UN system so far. The launch takes place on October 22.
UNIDIR Director Robin Geiss announced the forum at a briefing at UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday. He said it will bring together actors from every relevant sector and region. Consultations will include defence technology companies, software developers, subcontractors and investors. Those groups will work alongside governments, civil society, academia and independent experts. The Geneva-based institute is the UN’s independent research body on disarmament. Geiss said the time has come to pool strengths and confront military AI directly.
The forum will focus on three areas, according to Geiss. The first is a framework for responsible industry behaviour. It would set practical, voluntary guidelines for companies at the design and development stage of military AI tools. The second is an AI security lexicon to clarify key concepts such as autonomy, safety and security. Different stakeholders currently use those terms in very different ways, creating ambiguity that hinders trust and cooperation.
Misuse risks and faster warfare in focus
The third area addresses the risk that non-State armed groups misuse AI. Such groups can use the technology to support operational planning, execution and logistics. Geiss said some armed groups are already using AI in this way. He said AI tools are becoming easier to use. That trend allows non-State actors to carry out more sophisticated military operations. The Centre of Excellence opened this summer as the first permanent UN platform dedicated to these issues.
Geiss warned that the role of human judgment in warfare is shrinking rapidly. He said AI is already widely used for intelligence analysis, target identification and drone operations. It is also being used to orchestrate cyber-attacks. He said the margin for human judgment is narrowing, including in the nuclear domain. The shift is sharply increasing the pace of battlefield operations and shortening the time between identifying and striking targets.
Geopolitical rivalry complicates regulation
Geiss said many military AI systems are opaque, which raises the risk of error, miscalculation and unintended escalation. He described geopolitical competition and tensions as serious obstacles to regulating the technology. Concern is nonetheless shared across political outlooks, including among major powers. He cited a September U.S. proposal for an AI notification mechanism with China. It would let the two largest military spenders warn each other about AI incidents.
The Centre of Excellence has received funding from all five major nuclear powers, Geiss said. They are the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly urged states not to cross a moral red line on machines that target people. He has called for a legally binding treaty on lethal autonomous weapon systems. Geiss said those calls increasingly find an echo across the international community.