Virtual Event | AI Catastrophic Risks and National Security: Taking Stock of Perceptions and Approaches

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Since the launch of ChatGPT, government officials, business leaders, and technologists have all warned of coming largescale risks from rapidly advancing AI systems—spanning AI-enhanced bioterrorism, AI-enabled nuclear command and control gone awry, runaway AI hacking, and beyond. Following the Biden Administration’s AI Executive Order last October, how have the United States government’s perceptions of AI risks relevant to national security evolved? Where are the greatest risks, and how might they be best addressed?

On July 18 CNAS hosted a virtual panel on these questions and more. The panel featured national security professionals from across government agencies working to address these risks, as well as Dr. Paul Scharre, Executive Vice President and Director of Studies, and Bill Drexel, Fellow in CNAS’s Technology and National Security Team.

This panel is part of CNAS’s AI Safety and Stability project, which aims to better understand AI risks and identify specific steps to improve AI safety and stability in national security applications. The event will build upon the project’s latest report, Catalyzing Crisis: A Primer on Artificial Intelligence, Catastrophes, and National Security, in which Bill Drexel and Caleb Withers map out emerging AI national security risks and propose actionable solutions to avoid the worst outcomes.

Featured Speakers:

Alexandra Seymour
Staff Director, Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection
House Committee on Homeland Security

Michael Kaiser
Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Strategy, and Analysis, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office
​​​​​​​Department of Homeland Security

Wyatt Hoffman
Foreign Affairs Officer, Office of Emerging Security Challenges
Department of State

Dr. Paul Scharre
Executive Vice President and Director of Studies,
CNAS

Bill Drexel
Fellow,
AI Safety & Stability, CNAS

For registration questions, contact Jasmine Butler at jbutler@cnas.org​​​​​​​. For media inquiries, contact Alexa Whaley at [email protected].