Artificial intelligence is already widely used on the battlefield and the role of human judgement in military operations is shrinking rapidly, the head of the United Nations' disarmament research institute warned on Tuesday, according to UN News.

Robin Geiss, director of the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), told reporters that AI and autonomy are already embedded in intelligence analysis, target identification, drones, cyber attacks and information operations, UN News reported. "Decision cycles are compressing to machine speed, and the margin for human judgment is increasingly narrow, including in the nuclear domain," he said, according to the UN's own press briefing summary.

On Thursday, UNIDIR's Centre of Excellence on AI, Peace and Security will launch a new multi-stakeholder forum on AI in international peace and security and in the military domain — the first and only such forum within the UN system so far, Geiss said, according to UN News. The Associated Press, in reporting carried by Livemint, said the centre was established this summer and received funding from all five major nuclear powers — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.

The forum will focus on three areas, UN News reported: a framework for responsible industry behaviour, with voluntary guidelines for companies designing military AI tools; an "AI security lexicon" to clarify concepts such as autonomy, safety and security; and the risk of misuse of AI by non-state armed groups for operational planning, execution and logistics.

Geiss said geopolitical competition is a serious obstacle, but concerns are increasingly shared across blocs, UN News reported, noting that in September the United States proposed an AI notification mechanism with China so the two countries can warn each other about AI incidents that could threaten national security. The UN Secretary-General's repeated calls for stronger regulation of military AI and a legally binding treaty on lethal autonomous weapon systems are also finding an echo internationally, he said, according to UN News.

Sources: UN News — AI on track to 'crowd out' human decision-making in warfare (Oct 20, 2026); Associated Press via Livemint — New UN initiative will aim to tackle military uses of AI (Oct 20-21, 2026); UN Media / UNifeed — UNIDIR AI Peace and Security press briefing (Oct 20, 2026).