Before President Joe Biden told a news conference on Nov. 16 that he and China’s President Xi Jinping had commissioned work on risk and safety issues of artificial intelligence, Fox News and Yahoo News had reported on Nov. 15, repeating the Nov. 11 report from South China Morning Post that “Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are poised to pledge a ban on the use of artificial intelligence in autonomous weaponry, such as drones, and in the control and deployment of nuclear warheads, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to the Post.”
The only thing Biden said at his press conference afterward was, “we’re going to get our experts together to discuss risk and safety issues associated with artificial intelligence.” A link between AI and nuclear weapons control was not mentioned by any official publicly at the summit; nor were any questions asked of Biden at the Nov. 16 press conference.
Nonetheless, “experts’ opinion” in some defense media has reported that this agreement may be made. The discussion of the possibility was apparently started by the South China Morning Post Nov. 11.
