French thinking on AI integration and interaction with nuclear command and control, force structure, and decision-making
This paper analyses the French literature on France’s perception of military AI, especially its consequences on strategic systems and competition, and nuclear deterrence.
It draws on official strategies, doctrines, and speeches, reports and studies written by French scholars, and articles written by former or active military officers during their higher military education.
The paper gives a brief overview of the French approach to the debate, followed by the official positions on the development of military AI. It then focuses on the impact of AI on C2 and decision systems, including NC3 and its consequences on strategic stability. It concludes with a short overview of how France understands military AI programs from the P5 countries.
The paper recommends that, both on a domestic and international level, France should:
- Build a stronger community of researchers, officials and the private sector on AI and its impact on nuclear deterrence. Even though some initiatives such as the Réseau Nucléaire & Stratégie aim at creating a new generation of strategists and researchers on nuclear policy and industry, it could be interesting to fund additional scholarships, to create a chair on these topics in academia, or to support a seminar on this subject.
- Strengthen the links between the public and the private sectors. Misunderstanding about AI can fuel wrong analyses about its impact on military and nuclear strategy. Getting together data scientists and computer scientists with IR specialists and nuclear experts could be helpful.
- Support a P5 initiative on AI and risks related to the NC3. The P5 process on Strategic Risk Reduction, including the Youth Group, could be a good arena to push for these topics. A statement about the necessity to keep humans in the loop and to introduce strong means of crisis communication in order to avoid inadvertent escalation could be a good initiative.
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French thinking on AI integration and interaction with nuclear command and control, force structure, and decision-making
Héloïse FAYET
Chercheuse, responsable du programme dissuasion et prolifération, Centre des études de sécurité de l'Ifri
Security Studies Center
Heir to a tradition dating back to the founding of Ifri, the Security Studies Center provides public and private decision-makers as well as the general public with the keys to understanding power relations and contemporary modes of conflict as well as those to come. Through its positioning at the juncture of politics and operations, the credibility of its civil-military team and the wide distribution of its publications in French and English, the Center for Security Studies constitutes in the French landscape of think tanks a unique center of research and influence on the national and international defense debate.
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