What to expect from today's Doomsday Clock reveal

The Doomsday Clock is undergoing its annual update as we wait to find out how close humanity is to an apocalypse.

In 2023, the hypothetical clock hit the closest to midnight it ever has before, with just 90 seconds left until we reach the fateful hour of mankind’s self-destruction and the world going up in flames.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) hosts its annual Doomsday Clock announcement today (23 January) where we will find out just how close we are to the end in 2024.

This year’s announcement will feature a host of experts including the American engineer Bill Nye. It will be live-streamed on YouTube on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists channel from 3pm GMT this afternoon.

BAS is a non-profit organisation comprised of experts such as scientists and policy experts who put their heads together to determine how issues such as war, global warming and technological advancements may impact how close we are to the end.

Representatives for the group revealed, for example, that in 2023 factors like climate change, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and disruptive technologies came into play when determining the updated Doomsday Clock timing.

Factors we can expect to see impacting the time left on the clock in 2024 include artificial intelligence, war and the threat of nuclear escalation.

BAS President and CEO Rachel Bronson told Live Science in a statement: “Conflict hotspots around the world carry the threat of nuclear escalation, climate change is already causing death and destruction, and disruptive technologies like AI and biological research advance faster than their safeguards.”

She added: “On all of these issues there is some progress, ranging from early-stage nuclear diplomacy between the US and China to record-breaking investments in renewables [and] emerging national and international policy frameworks around technologies like AI and biological research. But none of these efforts are moving forward quickly enough.”

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