Can artificial intelligence solve the conflict between Russia and NATO? Former Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup – writer and author of the book from which the film by eight Academy Awards was made Slumdog Millionaire – he asked ChatGPT to come up with a plan to put an end to the war in Ukraine. The popular chatbot came up with an obviously very rational solution that Swarup shared on Twitter. What is good and what does not work in the proposal? What are the pros and cons? And ChatGPT has enough geopolitical weight to have his say (the bot is now being asked for opinions ranging from cooking recipes to cancer treatment)?
Here is the software peace plan reported in full:
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is a long-standing and complex issue and finding a mutually acceptable solution is a task demanding. However, as an AI language model, I can suggest a possible mediation solution:
1. Negotiations: The first step towards resolving the conflict is through negotiations between the leaders of both countries. Negotiations should aim to find a common ground and establish a framework for future cooperation.
2. Ceasefire: Both sides must agree on a ceasefire immediate to enable negotiations to take place. This is important to prevent further loss of life and destruction of property.
3. Decentralization: Ukraine should agree to decentralize power in regions where Russian-speaking populations live. This would give the regions greater autonomyincluding control over its economic development, language and cultural policies.
4. International Tracking: An international monitoring of the situation should be established to ensure that both sides adhere to the agreements reached during the negotiations.
5. Financial assistance: International organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank should provide assistance to Ukraine to help stabilize its economy.
6. Recognition of the sovereignty of Ukraine: Russia should recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
7. Cultural protection: Russia should work with Ukraine to protect the cultural rights of Russophones in Ukraine, for example by allowing the use of the Russian language in education and public life.
8. Military withdrawal: Both sides should agree to withdraw their military forces from the conflict zone and establish a demilitarized zone along the border.
ChatGPT’s proposals to end the war in Ukraine, let’s face it, are absolutely sensible. But to take it to the extreme, what happens when you apply a bot’s rational thinking to complex problems is put right away many politicians, arms manufacturers and companies in the defense sector are in difficulty with their powerful lobbyists (as Guido Crosetto was before becoming minister). On closer and counterintuitive reading, the artificial intelligence nevertheless betrays a vague pro-Putin leaning, for two reasons: it makes no mention of the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Furthermore Kiev it is held responsible for the conflict as it originated from ancient causes, to be exact from its refusal to respect the human rights sanctioned by the UN for the Russian-speaking Ukrainian population (hence the proposals for decentralization and cultural protection).
Obviously, complex and difficult topics to reduce in a power point slide, but one would have expected ChatGPT not to ignore an important objective fact: in the period of time in which Vladimir Putin has been in power, NATO has doubled the number of member countries from 16 to 32, largely crossing all the red lines, above all due to the West’s refusal to address the security problem as a whole in Eastern Europe through diplomacy and treaties, as it has been asking for for years the Kremlin. Breaking his word (Gorbachev was wrong to trust) is what triggered the Moscow special operation and the invasion of Ukraine. That said, no peace proposal stands any chance of success if all parties, sitting around a Helsinki 1975-style negotiating table, they do not address the issue of NATO expansion towards the East (the massive shipment of weapons, tanks and aircraft to Ukraine is only the latest chapter).
A few days ago Putin announced that he will install tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus but it is hypocritical not to recognize that NATO, for defense purposes, been doing the same for decades threatening Russia’s legitimate national security interests (NATO does this through its military bases in four European countries – Germany, Belgium, Holland and Italy – where 100 American atomic warheads are installed, 40 of which are kept in military aviation bases of Ghedi and Aviano).
Another unaddressed issue: ChatGPT I ignore the referenceby the United States and European countries defined as a “farce”, which last September allowed the Russian Federation to you gave four former Ukrainian regions in the east, including the provinces of Donbass, Donetsk and Lugansk. Finally, it is unlikely – and a robot should know this – that Russia will withdraw its military forces from the entire border, given that the presence of troops guarantees the safety of the local population (the civil war began in Donbass in 2014) and given that, despite the constant declarations of Zelensky on an upcoming counter-offensive, it is out of the question that Ukraine will ever recapture those territories in full, although there is a possibility that it could do so around the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhya (not to mention the Crimea, the Russification of which is no longer questioned by anyone).
In essence, the 8-point peace plan of ChatGPT could be paired with the 12-point peace plan presented by the Chinese: they are serious, rational proposals but insufficient. The inconvenient truth is that in both hovers a ghost: the United States, with its reinvigorated neocon design of global hegemony, strong and aggressive even with Biden, and whoever is the tenant in the White House. The artificial intelligence proposal has the flaw of focusing above all on the direct bilateral causes of the conflict, neglecting the ineluctable reality of a NATO vs. Russia proxy war, both on the military and economic fronts (sanctions).
Specifically, without a broader discussion of all the parties involved to start negotiations on a ceasefire, and then a table leading to an international treaty, the war continues.