STICERD Public Events and Lectures
STICERD and the School of Public Policy
Political Science and Political Economy
AI goes to war
Ethan Bueno de Mesquita (Chicago)
Monday 31 March 2025 18:00 - 19:00
Many of our seminars and public events this year will continue as in person or as hybrid (online and in person) events. Please check our website listings and Twitter feed @STICERD_LSE for updates.
Unless otherwise specified, in-person seminars are open to the public. Please ensure you have informed the event contact as early as possible.
Those unable to join the seminars in-person are welcome to participate via zoom if the event is hybrid.
About this event
The School of Public Policy and the Political Science and Political Economy group at STICERD are delighted to have Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, Dean of the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, as speaker at their joint political economy public lecture.
Listen to a recording of the event:
In this public lecture Professor Ethan Bueno de Mesquita examines the strategic impact of highly capable AI on warfare. The talk will focus on two key themes: unaligned AI agents on the battlefield and AI-driven cyber capacity.
Professor Bueno de Mesquita argues that the alignment problem is inevitable due to arms race pressures that incentivise rapid deployment and strategic motives to train agents with excessive aggression. In cyber warfare, AI will shift the offence-defence balance in favour of attackers, increasing the frequency of cyber operations. This is destabilising because secrecy limits cyber’s utility in negotiations—creating a mismatch between the balance of power and the balance of status—and because attribution challenges complicate deterrence.
Professor Bueno de Mesquita is a renowned expert in the study of conflict and violence (with a special emphasis on counterterrorism) as well as of electoral accountability problems. His work has been published in the main outlets in political science and economics. He is also the author of important methodological books that are widely used in masters of public policy and of political science.
This public lecture will take place in the Wolfson Theatre18:00 to 19:00 on Monday 31 March. The lecture will be followed by a reception.
In Person Registration: To attend the lecture, please register here. The number of places is limited and we will not be able to accept non-registered attendees on the day of the event.
Online: To register online click here.
Related
For further information please contact Lubala Chibwe, by email: l.chibwe@lse.ac.uk.