Is AI Pushing Us Closer to Nuclear Disaster?

Earlier this year, Daniel Holz from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced that its experts were moving the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds before midnight. The hands have been moved only 27 times since the clock’s creation in 1947, and they’re now the closest they’ve pointed to imminent global destruction. On this week’s More To The Story, in an update of an episode that first aired in July 2025, Holz sits down with host Al Letson to talk about the history of the Doomsday Clock, why we’re closer to destruction than ever before, and what we can do to reverse course.

Producer: Josh Sanburn | Editor: Kara McGuirk-Allison | Theme music: Fernando Arruda and Jim Briggs | Copy editor: Nikki Frick | Digital producer: Artis Curiskis | Deputy executive producer: Taki Telonidis | Executive producer: Brett Myers | Executive editor: James West | Host: Al Letson

Listen: Weapons With Minds of Their Own (Reveal)

Learn more: NUKEMAP

Read: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Read: Why Iran’s Nuclear Program Is So Essential to Its Identity (The Guardian via Mother Jones)

• Donate today at Revealnews.org/more
• Subscribe to our weekly newsletter at Revealnews.org/weekly
• Follow us on Instagram and Bluesky

Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices