- Merging quantum and AI could unlock capabilities beyond what either delivers alone, reshaping future military competition and strategic dynamics.
- This convergence risks deepening existing concerns about military AI use, including greater unpredictability, less transparent decision-making and harder accountability and legal compliance.
- Staying ahead of these risks will require ongoing, cross-disciplinary monitoring spanning technical, legal, policy and military expertise.
Both quantum technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) are advancing rapidly, with an increasingly symbiotic relationship between these two transformative fields. AI’s role is becoming more evident in quantum research and development, facilitating experimentation and system optimisation. In turn, progress in quantum technologies is also expected to enhance future AI capabilities through improved computational performance.
Alongside potential opportunities, this convergence could introduce new complexities and challenges that extend beyond technical domains and into the realm of international security. For instance, quantum–AI systems could generate challenges that compound existing concerns surrounding the military use of AI, such as heightened unpredictability, opaque decision-making, and structural difficulties related to accountability and legal compliance.
While relevant military applications of the quantum–AI convergence remain largely conceptual or in early development, examining this emerging security dimension provides an opportunity to proactively identify potential risks and inform early policy responses. Building on discussions from UNIDIR’s webinar series on quantum–AI convergence, this primer provides a technological overview of the quantum–AI convergence, assesses emerging and future defence use cases, and examines potential international security implications.
Citation: Wenting He. Entangled Frontiers: Quantum–AI Convergence in Defence and International Security. Geneva: UNIDIR, 2026.