Artificial intelligence and national security in 2025

Artificial intelligence and national security in 2025

This Ditchley conference gathered a high-level group of national security and technology leaders, predominantly from the US and Europe, to discuss the swift advancement of AI and its potential risks and opportunities for national security. There was a near-unanimous agreement that AI would be transformative, with the pace of development proving faster than anticipated. Participants felt that while governments and institutions intellectually grasped this, they had not yet translated that understanding into action. The discussion also explored how to use AI to strengthen democratic societies and alliances, rather than weaken them, and considered its potential to pose national security threats, particularly in the development of biological and chemical weapons. The group noted the growing gap between what governments are saying about AI and what they are actually doing, and felt that democratic societies should strive to steer toward a desired future. The event concluded that to prepare for the potential impact of AI, leaders should engage in realistic crisis response exercises to experience the scale of the coming transformation.