How worried should we be about A.I. warfare?

People can arm themselves in new ways with AI, and it's not. just state actors any longer. It's never been just state actors. But does this make non-state actors, rogue actors, even more dangerous? And could that be the thing that sets everything on fire? Yes, and I'm so glad you brought up AI, because. it's a huge worry. There was a senior AI executive that some of us met with. recently, and I asked them what are they worried about.

most, and they said AI enabled Chinese hacking of US systems, of power systems, telephone systems, water systems, and. all these things like this. And then the problem is, let's say the power just. shuts off in New York. We don't know who's done it. We don't know which country, or whether it was some rogue. actor or not, and does that lead to us lashing out. at the wrong power? We threaten China, and AI is obviously not the same as.

nuclear weapons, but I totally agree that we need some sort. of system on both sides. One of the things that came out of the Xi-Trump. summit was a hotline, AI, where the two countries. could call each other. It was one small step forward. But it's not nearly as powerful as nuclear weapons, but in. a way it's more powerful in terms of the chaos. What about just purely autonomous weapons? Because back in the day there was a person behind every. missile fired, or even bullet shot, or hand-to-hand combat. I just watched NASA, the documentary about Gaza, and in.

that film they talk about how the IDF has designed an entirely. autonomous system to find and track down and attack people. that they suspected to be Hamas operatives. And in the film, the allegation is, a lot of. the time they were wrong. So I know a service member, he's a relative of mine, I'll. put it that way, a pilot, and he is afraid of robot wars. Because it was extraordinary, and he risks his life for our. country, because if you have robot wars, it lowers the.

risk calculus for a president. If you're just going to have drones from China and the U.S. attacking each other, it doesn't make it as dangerous. politically to a leader. So that's what scares me also. Look, the drones will end up, eventually the. drones will get to us. War is war. It's chaos. It's cruel. It's terrifying. And that's what worries me the most. Look, we had these terrifying nuclear weapons, guaranteed. obliteration of the world, but at least the Soviet Union.

and the United States, that didn't happen. So there are moments in history when generations sort of rise. up and deal with the challenges they face. And I'm optimistic that there are Americans and Iranians, hopefully, and Russians and people in Europe, and Chinese too. China is growing. China has this amazing opportunity to become, it's already one of the most powerful and. on track to be the most powerful country. So I don't think they want war either. Are your sources worried? Maybe that's the question that I want to know.

I think my sources are worried about the kind of systematic. dismissal, and I'll be specific, by the Trump administration. of expertise. That there are all these people who've worked on these issues. for so long that say we need PACs, we need systems, we need. alliances, we need to control these new technologies and. weapons systems. And that's sort of dismissed as if we're just alpha enough, I. will actually go after Defense Secretary Hegseth. If you're just high T enough, it backs down. He can't do a lot of pushups. He can do a lot of pushups.

But in not very good form. [Laughter].