Humanity Edging Closer To Catastrophe: Doomsday Clock Moves One Second Closer to Midnight

The Doomsday Clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight, the closest the Clock has ever been to midnight in its 78-year history. The 2025 Clock time signals that the world is on a course of unprecedented risk, and that continuing on the current path is a form of madness. The United States, China, and Russia have the prime responsibility to pull the world back from the brink. The world depends on immediate action.

The Doomsday Clock’s time is set by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board (SASB) in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes nine Nobel Laureates. Factors included nuclear weapons threats, the climate crisis, biological threats, and disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). The Clock’s time changed most recently in January 2023, when the Doomsday Clock was set at 90 seconds to midnight.

Daniel Holz, PhD, SASB Chair, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and professor at the University of Chicago said: “The purpose of the Doomsday Clock is to start a global conversation about the very real existential threats that keep the world’s top scientists awake at night. National leaders must commence discussions about these global risks before it’s too late. Reflecting on these life-and-death issues and starting a dialogue are the first steps to turning back the Clock and moving away from midnight.”

The 2025 Doomsday Clock statement warns:

In 2024, humanity edged ever closer to catastrophe. Trends that have deeply concerned the Science and Security Board continued, and despite unmistakable signs of danger, national leaders and their societies have failed to do what is needed to change course. Consequently, we now move the Doomsday Clock from 90 seconds to 89 seconds to midnight—the closest it has ever been to catastrophe. Our 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, and the potential misuse of biological science and a variety of emerging technologies.

Juan Manuel Santos, Chair of The Elders, former President of Colombia, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, who participated in the 2025 Doomsday Clock announcement, said: “The Doomsday Clock is moving at a moment of profound global instability and geopolitical tension. As the hands of the clock get ever closer to midnight, we make an impassioned plea to all leaders: now is the time to act together! The existential threats we face can only be addressed through bold leadership and partnership on a global scale. Cada segundo cuenta. Every second counts.”

The Nuclear Outlook: Extremely Dangerous Trends Continue

Manpreet Sethi, PhD, SASB Member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and distinguished fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies in New Delhi and Senior Research Adviser, Asia Pacific Leadership Network, said: “The risk of nuclear use continues to grow due to capabilities building up and treaties breaking down. Russia has suspended compliance with the New START treaty and withdrawn ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. China is rapidly increasing its nuclear arsenal. And, the US has abdicated its role as a voice of caution. It seems inclined to expand its nuclear arsenal and adopt a posture that reinforces the belief that ‘limited’ use of nuclear weapons can be managed. Such misplaced confidence could have us stumble into a nuclear war.”

Disruptive Technologies To Watch

In 2025Herb Lin, ScD, SASB Member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and senior research scholar for cyber policy and security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation and Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said: “Proposals to integrate artificial intelligence into weapons of war raise questions about the extent to which machines will be allowed to make or support military decisions—even when such decisions could kill on a vast scale. Even if a human always make the final decision on the use of nuclear weapons, how and when, if at all, should AI be used to support such decision making? How should we think about lethal autonomous weapons, which identify and destroy targets without human intervention? Meanwhile, ever-increasing dysfunction in the world’s information ecosystem disrupts society’s capacity to address difficult challenges, and AI has great potential to accelerate the chaos and disorder.”

Climate Change: Devastating Impacts And Insufficient Progress

Robert Socolow, PhD, SASB Member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and professor emeritus in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, said: “2024 was the hottest year on record. Extreme weather and other climate events—floods, tropical cyclones, extreme heat, drought, and wildfires— devastated societies, rich and poor, as well as ecosystems around the world. Yet the global greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change continued to rise. And investments to adapt to climate change and cut fossil fuel emissions were way below what is needed to avoid the worst impacts. There were formidable policy headwinds globally: particularly worrisome, electoral campaigns showed climate change to be a low priority in the United States and many other countries.”

Daunting Biological Threats

Suzet McKinney, DrPH, SASB Member, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and principal and director of Life Sciences for Sterling Bay, said: “Infectious diseases are a constant threat to mankind, but unfortunately the collective experience with COVID-19 has increased skepticism about the recommendations of public health officials, especially the use of medical countermeasures to mitigate disease spread. Concern is also growing over the proliferation of pathogen laboratories around the world, as well as nefariously using AI in biological research and development. Collectively, leaders must establish knowledgeable authorities to provide trustworthy information, increase reporting of changing disease patterns as the climate changes, decrease the number of high-containment laboratories, and curtail active biological weapons programs.”

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project. The Bulletin created the Doomsday Clock two years later to convey man-made threats to human existence and the planet. The Clock has become a universally recognized indicator of the world’s vulnerability to global catastrophe.