Killer Code

What we code and how we code can have serious consequences

It came without warning. Hundreds of megatons of thermonuclear warheads were unleashed to catastrophic consequences. In a flash, several world capitals became a molten heap of rubble. It was only through heroic efforts and brave decision making that the missile barrage was halted.

It had taken a few weeks after that fateful day till they found the flaw. A poorly constructed function, just a few lines of code, enabled a cascade of errors that triggered the early-warning system to register multiple false alarms. The AI-enabled War Operation Plan Response system went into a full defense mode and launched a counter-strike.

Of course, this never happened. There have been instances though that brought the world close to full-scale nuclear war. One such incident happened on September 26, 1983 when a Soviet Union early detection system registered a US missile attack. A level-headed lieutenant colonel, Stanislav Petrov, realized the data made no sense and held off on launching a counter strike:

“It was subsequently determined that the false alarms were caused by a rare alignment of sunlight on high-altitude clouds and the satellites’ Molniya…