China in race to overtake the US in AI warfare

A Chinese-made CH-5 reconnaissance and combat drone and its compatible missiles at the 11th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition in Zhuhai city in south China’s Guangdong province on November 2, 2016.

 

Beijing is pushing hard to integrate artificial intelligence and autonomous weapons – robotic arms capable of thinking and acting at the speed of light

Earlier this month Chinese supreme leader Xi Jinping met with senior military scientists as chairman of the all-powerful Central Military Commission.

During the meeting, the Chinese leader was photographed at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences shaking hands with Major General Li Deyi, a leading authority on artificial intelligence, or AI, and a key figure in the Chinese military’s effort to overtake the United States in the emerging field of advanced weapons.

The meeting between Xi and the military experts garnered little public attention.

Chinese Supercomputers Threaten U.S. Security

One part of where this article goes wrong is the first opening sentence, as China has already eclipsed the United States in supercomputer technology.

However, at least Americans know who they can thank for giving China their threatening capability: Bill and Hillary Clinton through the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Another component of the problem is that the American security apparatus believes in the simple ‘patch and pray‘ fix due to high costs. In other words, they’re also reactive and not proactive… a grave difference.

 

Supercomputers play a vital role in the design, development and analysis of almost all modern weapons systems, said a report by the National Security Agency-Energy Department based on an assessment of China’s new supercomputer called the TaihuLight. Photo by: David Mercer

 

China is eclipsing the United States in developing high-speed supercomputers used to build advanced weapons, and the loss of American leadership in the field poses a threat to U.S. national security.

That’s the conclusion of a recent joint National Security Agency-Energy Department study, based on an assessment of China’s new supercomputer called the TaihuLight.

“National security requires the best computing available, and loss of leadership in [high-performance computing] will severely compromise our national security,” the report warns.