Overview
- Experts warn the risk of nuclear war is at its highest since the Cold War, with nine nations now armed and modern technologies eroding traditional deterrence.
- The Chicago declaration highlights how fake images and false reports during a May India–Pakistan clash demonstrated how misinformation can push nuclear forces toward hair-trigger postures.
- Nobel laureates called for immediate talks between the United States and Russia to craft a successor to the New START treaty, which expires in February 2026.
- Signatories also urged a comprehensive moratorium on nuclear testing and full disclosure of stockpiles by all nuclear-armed states, specifically naming China.
- They cautioned that militaries’ growing use of AI in intelligence analysis and early-warning systems risks accelerating decision timelines and magnifying errors that could provoke unintentional nuclear launches.