The Doomsday Clock has been updated to just 89 seconds until a civilization-ending disaster

In context: The Doomsday Clock, created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group co-founded by Albert Einstein, is a striking symbolic timekeeper. Midnight on the metaphorical clock represents a world-shattering cataclysm. The closer we get to midnight, the more dire the Bulletin judges the current existential threats from nuclear weapons, climate change, disruptive technologies like AI, and more.

On January 28, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists updated the Doomsday Clock from 90 to 89 seconds until “midnight,” as world-ending threats continue escalating at a terrifying pace. Bulletin scientists listed several conditions that influenced the clock update.

Experts see the war in Ukraine, which still rages into its third year, as posing real risks of going nuclear through accident or madness. Nuclear powers like the US, China, and Russia continue pouring staggering resources into modernizing and building up their doomsday arsenals rather than negotiating limitations. Greenhouse gas emissions climbed again last year as most nations failed to do enough about climate change.

The Bulletin adds that new bioweapons research and lack of oversight also heightens the potential for human-engineered pandemics. Meanwhile, AI capabilities continue to advance rapidly despite calls for regulations to slow it down. Experts fear uncontrolled AI growth will supercharge the spread of misinformation, undermine democracy, and potentially turn autonomous machines hostile.

“Trends that have deeply concerned the Science and Security Board continued, and despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course,” writes the Bulletin.

If all this isn’t enough to keep you up at night, the scientists highlighted AI’s growing ability to turbocharge misinformation and fake news. This “corruption of the information ecosystem” is kneecapping democratic discourse and honest debate over all these challenges.

The Bulletin’s statement warns that blindly continuing on the current path is a “form of madness.” It singles out the US, China, and Russia as the nations with the collective power to push the Doomsday Clock to midnight. The group believes in an urgent need for the leaders of these countries to conduct high-level talks to lower the potential of disaster.

The United States, China, and Russia have the collective power to destroy civilization. These three countries have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink, and they can do so if their leaders seriously commence good-faith discussions about the global threats outlined here. Despite their profound disagreements, they should take that first step without delay. The world depends on immediate action.

There remains some question as to whether the metaphorical Doomsday Clock resonates as strongly as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists hopes. While the experts’ annual warnings about global risks are certainly grave, decades of pronouncing that we are just minutes from midnight make the warnings feel hollow. Fortunately, the clock can run backward and has several times following world-changing events.