The Manhattan Project Mindset: How Nuclear Analogies Are Steering AI Policy Off Course

Analogies for artificial intelligence abound. In recent years, analysts have likened the development of AI to the advent of electricity, the Industrial Revolution, contact with extraterrestrials, and at least fifty other things. One analogy, however, appears to have won out over the rest: AI is like nuclear weapons.This comparison is now ubiquitous in government rhetoric, policy debates, and media accounts about AI. The risks of advanced AI are equated with the existential risk posed by nuclear weapons. There are several references to AI development as a modern-day Manhattan Project. The U.S.-