Putin cited the example of Petrov’s feat as proof of the need for human intuitive decision-making in the conditions of AI

MOSCOW, October 1 - RIA Novosti. Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking about the ability of artificial intelligence to independently analyze information and make decisions, recalled the feat of the rocket scientist, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, who in time doubted the system’s readings and saved the world from nuclear war.

The head of state on Thursday arrived at the plenary session of the 23rd annual meeting of the Valdai international discussion club, which is being held at the Rossiya National Center in Moscow.

During his speech, Putin noted that cases have already been recorded when artificial intelligence itself makes decisions based on its own understanding of expediency. The President emphasized that a person cannot compete with a machine’s ability to analyze information almost instantly, but he is distinguished by flair, intuition, and the ability to make non-obvious decisions, which sometimes turn out to be the only correct ones, and sometimes life-saving.

“September 1983. The rocket officer, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, was on combat duty and received a signal from a missile attack warning system. We, in the United States, have created such systems and have been functioning for a long time. The system recorded the launch of five American intercontinental ballistic missiles. Any algorithm would classify this as an unambiguous reason for a retaliatory strike. But an experienced officer doubted the accuracy of the signal,” Putin said.

He explained that Petrov suspected a system failure and turned out to be right.

“If artificial intelligence had been in its place, everything could have turned out completely differently. This, in my opinion, is a very convincing example,” the head of state emphasized.

The Valdai International Discussion Club is an association of leading foreign and Russian experts in the field of political science, economics, history and international relations. The club was created in September 2004 on the initiative of the RIA Novosti agency, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and the magazines "Russia in Global Affairs" and Russia Profile. The club owes its name to the location of the first conference, which took place in Veliky Novgorod near Lake Valdai.