H.E. Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccan Expatriates, Kingdom of Morocco,
Excellencies,
Dear colleagues,
Dear friends,
I wish to express my gratitude to the Kingdom of Morocco, and personally to you Minister, for hosting this important and timely conference.
This event is one of the largest co-organised by the OPCW outside of The Hague.
I wish to commend the efforts made by the Government of Morocco in hosting this world class conference, with broad participation of leading experts.
In addition to the significant contributions from the Kingdom of Morocco, I wish to thank China, France, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Qatar, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for their contributions.
We are gathered here in beautiful Rabat, together with both high-level officials and experts, to explore the implications of AI on our common mission to eradicate Chemical Weapons.
The goal is to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the benefits and risks of AI for the Convention, and how the OPCW should respond.
The outcome of this conference will therefore be a valuable resource and reference for the orientation of the Organisation, and a guidance for each State Party.
Dear Minister,
Distinguished participants,
The OPCW has been in existence since the Convention entered into force in 1997, more than 27 years ago.
Since that time, the Organisation has achieved many significant milestones.
The Convention boasts near-universal status with 193 States Parties.
Only four states – Egypt, Israel, North Korea and South Sudan – have yet to join.
In July of last year, the Secretariat verified the destruction in the United States of America of the final declared stockpiled chemical munition.
Altogether, more than 72,000 metric tonnes of chemical weapons, declared by all States Parties, have been destroyed, under strict verification by the OPCW.
However, despite reaching this historic landmark in 2023, our work is far from over.
The important task of destroying all the Abandoned Chemical Weapons and Old Chemical Weapons, still lies ahead of us.
Just a few days ago, I had the opportunity to travel to China, and visit the excavation, recovery and destruction facilities there.
Thousands of ACWs, a legacy of the World War II, are still there, in several places, in the northeast of China, awaiting recovery and destruction.
Achieving a world free of chemical weapons, requires the total elimination of ACWs and OCWs.
In addition, independent of the chemical weapons destruction activities, we must focus on combatting the re-emergence of the use of toxic chemicals as weapons.
The threat of chemical weapons use is increasing, in scope and scale, in step with the rapid pace of scientific and technological progress.
Accordingly, the OPCW has been adapting, to maintain technical preparedness for the future and ensure that it can continue to deliver as the States Parties expect.
The Centre for Chemistry and Technology (the ChemTech Centre), inaugurated in May 2023 in the presence of H.M. Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands, plays an integral role in ensuring that the Organisation can continue to fulfil its mandates.
This powerful tool is already fully operational and has been enhancing the Organisation’s ability to maintain a robust verification regime, to conduct research, analysis, and training, and to deliver a variety of capacity building programmes for experts of the Organisation and the States Parties.
It is critical to monitor and assess the advancements in emerging technologies for the Organisation to be future ready and for the States Parties to receive all relevant information in this respect.
As such, the OPCW Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) plays a vital role in keeping us apprised of scientific and technological advances, and their significance.
The OPCW was conceived as a technical organisation.
The concept of emerging technologies is not a new one for the Organisation.
In 1997 this concept of “Emerging Technologies” was already used in the Terms of Reference adopted by the CSP for the Scientific Advisory Board.
That was 27 years ago.
In 2013 during the Third Review Conference, the States Parties stated that “…taking into account relevant developments in science, technology and industry, is of critical importance”.
Most of the emerging technologies have cross-cutting capabilities.
This is especially relevant for our common work related to the destruction of chemical weapons and the prevention of their re-emergence.
To underline the importance of this, I wish to highlight a few very specific examples, that have direct influence on the task of the Organisation, and – as you will see – are all affected by the cross-cutting impact of AI:
- development of drones for the dissemination of chemicals,
- automated laboratories,
- 3D printing for producing equipment components,
- Nanotechnology that reduces the size of the laboratories, and thus makes it easier to operate them clandestinely for malicious purposes, if so intended,
- metal and chemical detection systems,
- new algorithms combined with large language models and powerful computers that allow the generation of new and unknown chemicals,
- advanced medical knowledge for countermeasures,
- production of new materials for protective equipment, and
- technologies for decontamination, which is vital in the aftermath of a chemical weapons attack,
All the above-mentioned examples, among others, will have a direct impact on our daily work.
Due to its special relevance, I wish to mention separately the breakthroughs in synthetic biology, underlining at the same time, that biology and chemistry are becoming increasingly interrelated.
In this context, we would all agree, that special attention must be devoted to the potential misuse of scientific and technological knowledge, and at the same time, all required resources must be mobilised in identifying innovations that could strengthen the Organisation.
Dear Minister,
Distinguished participants,
Today, the world is a very different place than it was in the 1980s, when the drafting of the Convention began.
In today’s evolving world, AI is not only an emerging and disruptive technology.
AI isn’t simply one more technology on the previously mentioned list of advancements, but rather a catalyst for driving developments in many different fields.
It is quite simply transformational, because it has the potential to make other technologies more powerful, cheaper to use, and faster and more effective.
What is especially relevant for us this year is, that research and achievements made by these scientists are precisely in fields that are of importance to us.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry to the three scientists have been awarded for discoveries in “computational protein design” and “protein structure prediction.”
It was awarded for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks, as well as for computational protein design.
This means that AI has been the protagonist in these scientific tasks.
And AI is continuing to develop and mature rapidly.
For example, AI is accelerating the discovery and synthetic design of new chemicals, which have beneficial applications in pharmaceutical research, medicine, manufacturing, and agriculture, which in other words is the chemical industry that we inspect.
AI tools for chemical synthesis are commercially available, helping to devise ways to design and produce complex chemical compounds tailored for specific tasks, that can now be carried out more easily and efficiently than ever before.
Conversely, these AI tools could also be used to create new toxic chemicals with specific properties, such as increased persistence or volatility, in addition to being highly toxic.
Furthermore, our interest in AI goes beyond the chemical sciences.
It can also play a role in how dangerous chemicals may be transported, weaponised, and delivered to targets.
AI can enable autonomous systems to deploy chemical agents without human intervention.
To give just one example:
AI technology is augmenting the power and precision of unmanned aerial vehicles – also known as drones – and is a major concern in this context.
My key point is a general one:
The spread of knowledge and know-how, combined with AI is to be welcomed.
Nevertheless, it triggers unintended consequences, as it will be easier for a wide range of different actors to acquire, develop and deploy toxic chemicals as weapons.
Dear Minister,
Dear Participants,
As concerning as these trends may be, we must not overstate them.
I wish to underscore, that a not insignificant amount of specialised expertise, experience and financial resources, is still required to produce new highly toxic molecules with new formulas generated with AI.
The same applies to the well-known old formulas of highly toxic chemicals when attempts are made to produce them with AI.
For the time-being, AI cannot replace the experience, practical skills, and capabilities – the so-called “domain expertise” – of chemists and chemical engineers in the production process.
But the question is, as AI develops rapidly, how long do we mean when we say “for the time-being”.
Given AI’s potential applications in the chemical weapons area, the OPCW has taken a proactive approach to identify the benefits and risks.
Several activities have been already carried out:
The Scientific Advisory Board of the Organisation has been monitoring and evaluating AI’s possible effects for some time and has identified a number of relevant developments that could have important consequences for the Convention.
In June 2022, the SAB, in partnership with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, held its first workshop on “AI in Chemistry”.
In April this year, as part of this first phase, I convened a two-day meeting with external AI experts, at the headquarters building and at the Centre for Chemistry and Technology of the Organisation.
The outcome of this meeting was reported to the Member States of the OPCW.
In June, I had the privilege of delivering the keynote address at the “Artificial Intelligence and Weapons of Mass Destruction” conference in Berlin, Germany, organised by the German Federal Foreign Office.
The Secretariat of the Organisation continues to keep a close watch on AI developments.
We are monitoring how they may be misused, but also exploring the opportunities they afford us.
I will give you a few examples.
AI-powered natural language processing, or text processing, can analyse vast amounts of information, including reports, patents, and academic research and, in general, can bring us extraordinary benefits, in the selection and analysis of open-source information.
In doing so, AI can help us to identify emerging threats, trends in scientific research and technological development, and changes in chemical production, applications, and trade.
This capability will allow us to predict and respond to developments that might affect the implementation of Convention.
AI could also assist in investigations, upon a State Party request, of alleged use of chemical weapons.
Advanced AI data mining techniques in chemical forensics will enable more efficient and comprehensive data analysis, assisting in identifying the chemical agents used and their origins.
AI can also examine, and eventually fuse, open-source data such as satellite imagery and social media, to corroborate findings in investigations of chemical weapons use.
These elements could significantly strengthen the OPCW’s investigative capabilities.
AI can also strengthen preparedness and response by speeding up the discovery and development of treatments and antidotes for chemical weapons exposure.
Chemical safety and security is another area, that can benefit from artificial intelligence-enabled tools.
The AI-driven analysis of visual material, so called – “Computer vision” – and AI-driven predictive analytics, can evaluate camera footage and sensor data to monitor safety conditions and check equipment.
By automating certain tasks, AI can also increase chemical safety by removing the operator from hazardous situations.
AI can even create “digital twins” of real-world manufacturing plants to enhance process and product safety.
Additionally, AI offers an opportunity to reinforce our current verification methods.
It could enable us to scrutinise trade data, to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies, in the international chemical trade.
By reviewing historical data, such methods could highlight shifts in trade patterns for specific chemical products and production equipment, which may assist in detecting illicit activities.
As AI continues to accelerate technological progress, it is essential that all these developments are integrated into the work of the OPCW, to ensure continued robust verification mechanisms.
Ultimately, AI offers the OPCW the prospect of strengthening its operational capabilities, and preventive efforts.
In this regard, we have started to establish an in-house test and validation capabilities system for new technologies and equipment.
This is done by using AI at the ChemTech Centre (CCT) of the Organisation to monitor and identify new trends and technologies that intersect with the activities of the Organisation.
Furthermore, aiming to enhance and modernise the training of Inspectors through virtual immersive 3D modules, we have begun to explore the possibility of using AI to create more realistic virtual environments of a wide variety of configurations, commonly encountered in inspections.
This conference, and its outcomes, will be useful for the States Parties to better understand the impacts of AI on our joint mission, and to consider how best to seize the opportunities and mitigate the risks.
Moving forward, the OPCW is embarking on other AI-related activities.
On 21 June the Secretariat launched what we are calling the “AI Research Challenge.”
We issued a call for proposals from institutions in the States Parties on how AI could benefit the Convention’s implementation and the functioning of the Organisation.
Twenty-two proposals were submitted, focusing on using AI tools in different aspects of our work.
Several submissions focus on using AI tools to enhance chemical detection and analysis, both in field settings and in the laboratory.
Other ideas propose using AI to predict structures, properties, and spectral information of toxic chemicals, to assist the OPCW in identifying potential threats.
Some submissions detail approaches to monitoring and verification by fusing open-source information to provide a comprehensive understanding of a given situation.
Additional approaches include outfitting drones with AI technology to provide advanced detection, identification, and even decontamination, for incidents involving toxic chemicals, among others.
I thank the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, for funding this initiative.
I wish to stress, that any technologies the Secretariat develops in the emerging technologies domain, are to benefit all States Parties, to help boost their own capabilities.
Additionally, preparations are underway for the establishment of a new Temporary Working Group on Artificial Intelligence.
This Group will further explore AI and its implications and will submit recommendations on how the OPCW can best move forward.
Its mandate will begin on 1 January 2025.
On the part of the States Parties, the Executive Council decided to include an agenda item on “Emerging Technologies,” for all future sessions of the Council.
This will provide the States Parties with a platform to exchange views and provide guidance to the Secretariat on AI related matters.
This conference will be a landmark, but we must continue in other international fora the conversations that we have initiated here, in Rabat.
One area of particular importance is to continue deepening ties with industry.
Chemical industry is growing in size and sophistication, and already using AI in many processes.
The OPCW needs to work closely with industry stakeholders to make sure we are well informed about the ways in which AI may affect the implementation of the Convention.
Dear Minister,
Distinguished participants,
The Organisation’s commitment to a world free of chemical weapons is unwavering.
We recognise, that this task, requires continuous monitoring of science and technology – including their possible misuse.
We can rest assured that AI will introduce drastic changes in many fields and these changes will certainly impact the ways in which we have to protect the Convention and its implementation.
In the coming days we will address many crucial questions together.
I encourage you all to make the most of this valuable occasion by engaging in interactive discussions.
The generosity and insight of the Moroccan authorities has provided us with a unique opportunity that will serve as a stepping stone for future activities.
I wish to thank you dear Minister for the personal support you have provided to the organisation of this conference.
I wish you all productive discussions and look forward to the outcomes of your work.
Thank you for your attention.