Context: Intelligent applications have become a trend and focus in global arm races. China is ramping up military AI for building a stronger army and ensuring future national security.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to dominate the drive to make the military 'smart', says Shi Haiming 石海明 Chinese Institute of Command and Control Youth Works Committee vice director and National University of Defense Technology associate professor. AI encompasses a cluster of technologies that will upgrade the entire military chain, says Shi. Rapid advances and extensive use of intelligent technologies in the military will profoundly change warfare theory, patterns, operations, forces and organisation, an expert told Study Times, urging China to grasp this strategic opportunity and 'overtake on the bend' in international defence competition. Military progress does not just rely on technology, but also on a different mindset, way of handling information, arrangement of cognitive abilities and conceptualisation of human–machine interaction, adds China Military Online.
Military applications differ from the tech's mechanical and informational uses, argues Study Times, highlighting imminent
- human–machine collaborative decision-making
- wars between interlinked operation systems
- intelligent weaponry as major armed forces
The report calls for strengthening
- basic construction, building on the AI road map and 3-year action plan
- improve regulation
- formulate road maps and schedules
- attract talent
- launch research projects
- set up innovation bases
- basic training
- make 'smart tech' central in (military) training
- civil–military integration
- boost interaction, resource sharing and achievement transfers
- develop AI standards that apply to both civil and military uses
- dismantle barriers and promote smart tech in all areas of military activity