GENEVA - A group of Japanese high school students visiting the U.N. office in Geneva on Tuesday called on the world to reduce the risks associated with military uses of artificial intelligence as the technology becomes integrated into war-making capabilities.
More than 20 "peace messengers" hailing from 19 of Japan's 47 prefectures, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki, came to submit more than 60,000 signatures collected over the past year in an effort toward seeking the abolition of nuclear weapons.
"The risk of nuclear weapons being used is growing year by year, as exemplified in particular by the military integration of artificial intelligence," said Rinako Goto, a 17-year-old from Kumamoto Prefecture, during a meeting with Carolyne-Melanie Regimbal, a senior official at the U.N. Office for Disarmament Affairs' Geneva office.
Noting the role AI could play in battlefield decision-making, Goto called attention to the need for "risk reduction measures" to avoid "catastrophic consequences" amid the rapid advancement of AI capabilities.
The students also attended a meeting of government experts on emerging technologies in the area of lethal autonomous weapons systems.
After her meeting with the students, Regimbal said the nexus between AI and evolving military technology, as mentioned by the group, is something she finds particularly important because it will be the "future of big problems."
The challenges, she said, will depend on "the interaction between these technologies and the classical mass destruction technologies, such as nuclear weapons."
Peace messengers are chosen each year to convey the messages of the two Japanese cities devastated by U.S. atomic bombs in the final days of World War II. This year's group included a 16-year-old whose great-grandmother survived an atomic bombing.
Earlier this year, the Arms Control Association, a U.S. think tank, selected the 24 Japanese high school students who made up last year's group as the 2025 Arms Control Person(s) of the Year for their contribution to disarmament efforts.
