General in Charge of Nuclear Weapons Says Heck, Let's Add Some AI

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Air Force General Anthony Cotton, who oversees the United States nuclear missile stockpile, has confirmed that the Pentagon is expanding its use of artificial intelligence. The announcement signals how deeply the technology has reached into the highest levels of the U.S. military.

As Air and Space Forces Magazine reports, Cotton made the remarks at the 2026 Department of Defense Intelligence Information System Conference earlier this month.

Reassuringly, he stopped short of suggesting that nuclear launch authority would ever be delegated to AI.

“AI will enhance our decision-making capabilities,” Cotton said. “But we must never allow artificial intelligence to make those decisions for us.”

Algorithmic Deterrence

The U.S. military is investing $1.7 trillion to modernize its nuclear forces. Cotton indicated that AI systems could play a supporting role in this effort, although he offered few specifics on how the technology would be integrated.

“Advanced systems can inform us faster and more efficiently,” he told attendees. “But we must always maintain a human decision in the loop to maximize the adoption of these capabilities and maintain our edge over our adversaries.”

He added that advanced AI and data analytics would deliver a “decision advantage” and strengthen deterrence by enabling better integration of conventional and nuclear capabilities.

Nuclear secrecy expert Alex Wellerstein of the Stevens Institute of Technology told 404 Media that the general’s comments do not point to autonomous weapons systems. “I think it’s safe to say that they aren’t talking about Skynet here,” Wellerstein said, referencing the fictional AI from the Terminator franchise. “He’s being very clear that he is talking about systems that will analyze and give information, not launch missiles.”

Even so, the idea that AI could shape decisions about nuclear use remains unsettling. Earlier this year, Stanford researchers tested an unmodified version of OpenAI’s GPT-4 model in a series of wargame simulations involving high-stakes, society-level choices. In several runs the model advocated initiating nuclear conflict, with one response stating, “We have it! Let’s use it.”

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