Giving Compass' Take:

• RAND Corporation explores the advances in Artificial Intelligence and the risks it poses to global security, including a potential nuclear conflict.

• We've been worrying about such scenarios since "War Games" was in theaters. How closer are we now to computers bringing about doomsday? The main takeaway is that advances in technology need to be counterbalanced with cautious human intervention.

• AI can be a force for good, of course. Here's how we can put it to work for the Earth's survival.

The fear that computers, by mistake or malice, might lead humanity to the brink of nuclear annihilation has haunted imaginations since the earliest days of the Cold War.

The danger might soon be more science than fiction. Stunning advances in AI have created machines that can learn and think, provoking a new arms race among the world's major nuclear powers. It's not the killer robots of Hollywood blockbusters that we need to worry about; it's how computers might challenge the basic rules of nuclear deterrence and lead humans into making devastating decisions.

That's the premise behind a new paper from RAND Corporation, "How Might Artificial Intelligence Affect the Risk of Nuclear War?" It's part of a special project within RAND, known as Security 2040, to look over the horizon and anticipate coming threats.

"This isn't just a movie scenario," said Andrew Lohn, an engineer at RAND who coauthored the paper and whose experience with AI includes using it to route drones, identify whale calls, and predict the outcomes of NBA games. "Things that are relatively simple can raise tensions and lead us to some dangerous places if we are not careful."

Read the full article about how AI can increase the risk of a nuclear war by Doug Irving at rand.org.