Closer to global disaster? Doomsday Clock announcement next week

The clock, first introduced in 1947 by a group of scientists that included Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and researchers from the University of Chicago’s Manhattan Project, is adjusted annually by the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board. The hands on the clock have become a widely recognized barometer of the world’s exposure to threats stemming from nuclear weapons, climate change, biotechnology, and emerging technologies.

In 2025, the board moved the minute hand one second nearer to midnight, setting the clock at 89 seconds to midnight. The board described the shift as a “clear warning that every second of delay in reversing course raises the probability of global disaster.”

In a statement, the board outlined the factors that continue to press the world toward the brink:

• The war in Ukraine – now entering its third year, the conflict is deemed a flashpoint for accidental or intentional nuclear escalation.
• Accelerating climate impacts – rising sea levels, record‑high global surface temperatures, and an increasing frequency of extreme weather events have surpassed previous benchmarks.
• Emerging and re-emerging diseases – persistent threats from novel pathogens strain health systems and present economic and security challenges.
• Artificial‑intelligence-driven military systems – AI has already been employed in targeting operations in Ukraine and the Middle East, and several nations are advancing toward greater integration of autonomous decision-making in weapons platforms, including those capable of delivering nuclear payloads.

The board underscored that the United States, China, and Russia together hold the “collective power to destroy civilization” and called on the three powers to “pull the world back from the brink.”

“The board’s fervent hope is that leaders will recognize the world’s existential predicament and take bold action to reduce the threats posed by nuclear weapons, climate change, the potential misuse of biological science, and a variety of emerging technologies,” the 2025 statement read.

The upcoming announcement on Tuesday will be made at a press briefing in Washington, D.C., where members of the Science and Security Board are expected to detail the rationale behind the latest setting and to outline policy recommendations aimed at de-escalation.