Is AI Pushing Us Closer to Nuclear Disaster?

In this episode of 'More to the Story,' host Al Letson speaks with Daniel Holtz, chair of the Science and Security Board at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and founder of the Existential Risk Laboratory at the University of Chicago, about the Doomsday Clock now standing at 85 seconds to midnight—the closest it has ever been in its 75-year history. Holtz explains the clock’s origins as a symbolic warning created in 1945 by scientists involved in the Manhattan Project, including Einstein and Oppenheimer, to highlight humanity’s self-made existential threats like nuclear war, climate change, and emerging AI risks. He emphasizes that while the world has seen progress—such as nuclear arms reductions during the Cold War—recent developments, including the U.S. and Israel’s attacks on Iran, renewed nuclear modernization, and the integration of AI into military systems, have dramatically increased global risk. Holtz warns that AI’s potential to disrupt nuclear command and control, combined with disinformation and geopolitical instability, makes the current moment more perilous than ever. Yet he stresses that the clock is not just a warning—it is a symbol of hope, demonstrating that humanity has turned back the hands before and can do so again through international cooperation, policy change, and public engagement.