Artificial intelligence was not listed as a chief concern two years ago, the last time the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the clock closer to global catastrophe.

The Doomsday Clock is now set at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest it has ever been to implosion. The proximity to midnight reflects the scale of escalating global threats. The clock is a unique timepiece created 78 years ago by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists as a symbol to gauge how close humanity

Atomic scientists on Tuesday moved their "Doomsday Clock" closer to midnight than ever before, citing Russian nuclear threats amid its invasion of Ukraine, tensions in other world hot spots, military applications of artificial intelligence and climate change as factors underlying the risks of global catastrophe.