Human Judgement Is the Most Powerful Technology in the AI Age

—Andrii Shyp—Getty Images In Ukraine , a Russian drone guided by artificial intelligence killed three civilians at a gas station, including a 19-year-old university student.

In Gaza , an AI-assisted intelligence tool helped Israeli forces locate a Hamas commander.

The subsequent airstrike killed him and, according to independent estimates, at least 125 other people.

Different wars.

Different circumstances.

But a deeply troubling question: As machines become more involved in decisions of life and death, are we losing sight of the human beings whose lives hang in the balance? That question brought me back this month to a small white house in Reykjavík, Iceland.

Forty years ago , Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met at Höfði House , representing rival nuclear superpowers divided by decades of distrust.

They left without an agreement .

Yet their willingness to talk, listen, and imagine what had seemed impossible helped lay the groundwork for historic nuclear arms reductions.

I remember that moment vividly.

I was a young Icelandic exchange student living in the United States, watching two world leaders meet in my small home country.

I could never have imagined that 40 years later, as President of Iceland, I would return to that same house to ask a new generation of leaders to find the courage to talk.

The enduring lesson of Reykjavík is not simply about nuclear weapons or diplomacy.

It is about the extraordinary power of human connection and dialogue.