On December 4, 2021, the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) of Tsinghua University, in collaboration with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), held a thematic session themed “AI and International Security” during the International AI Cooperation and Governance Forum 2021. The event was held in a hybrid format, bringing together 11 experts and scholars from China, Japan, India, the United States, Russia, Ireland and Switzerland to explore the impact of AI on international security. XIAO Qian, Deputy Director of CISS and Vice Dean of the Institute for AI International Governance at Tsinghua University, and LYU Jinghua, Northeast Asia Programme Director at HD, delivered remarks at the forum. 

The meeting was structured into two sessions. The first session, titled “Understanding the Impact of AI on Global Strategic Stability,” was moderated by CHEN Qi, Secretary General of CISS and Professor of International Relations at Tsinghua’s School of Social Sciences. The panelists looked at how AI would affect global strategic stability in the context of changing major-power relations and how would these influence the powers that are less competitive in the area. The second session, titled “Exploring Ways to Alleviate AI-Related Security Risks,” was moderated by Eric Richardson, Senior Advisor at HD. The discussion focused on whether the development of AI would trigger new rounds of arms race or aggravate the risk of armed conflict, ways to manage these risks, and the ethical consensus needed for AI’s development and deployment.

Session 1 moderator Chen Qi

Session 2 moderator Eric Richardson

Opening remarks by Xiao Qian

Concluding remarks by Lyu Jinghua

Participants agreed that the application of AI will create considerable uncertainties to global strategy, and that the international community ought to commit to improving AI governance and ethics and actively explore paths of cooperation on mitigating and preventing the security risks brought by AI. Lyu Jinghua concluded the session by expressing her appreciation to those participating and her expectation for further discussions on risk prevention measures in the future.