February 12, 2018
Chinese Sub Commanders May Get AI Help for Decision-Making
What can we learn from a recent news report that China is seeking to develop a nuclear submarine with “AI-augmented brainpower” to give the PLA Navy an “upper hand in battle”?
A February 4 piece in the South China Morning Post quotes a “senior scientist involved with the programme” as saying there is a project underway to update the computer systems on PLANnuclear submarines with an AI decision-support system with “its own thoughts” that would reduce commanding officers’ workload and mental burden. The article describes plans for AI to take on “thinking” functions on nuclear subs, which could include, at a basic level, interpreting and answering signals picked up by sonar, through the use of convolutional neural networks.
Given the sensitivity of such a project, it is notable that a researcher working on the program is apparently discussing these issues with an English-language Hong Kong-based newspaper owned by Chinese tech giant Alibaba. That alone suggests that powers-that-be in Beijing intend such a story to receive attention. The release of this information should be considered critically – and might even be characterized as either a deliberate, perhaps ‘deterrent’ signal of China’s advances and/or ‘technological propaganda’ that hypes and overstates current research and development. Necessarily, any analysis based on such sourcing is difficult to confirm – and must thus be caveated heavily.
Read the full article in Defense One.
More from CNAS
-
Commentary
Technology & National Security
CNAS Insights | Setting the Rules for AI WarfareThe escalating feud between the Pentagon and Anthropic, one of world’s leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies, highlights a crucial question that will shape security i...
By Paul Scharre
-
Video
Middle East Security / Technology & National Security
AI and the Future of WarfareRapid developments in artificial intelligence are changing modern warfare and raising a new batch of ethical questions. The U.S. military reportedly used Anthropic’s AI model ...
By Paul Scharre
-
Podcast
Middle East Security / Technology & National Security
AI Goes to WarPaul Scharre, executive vice president at the Center for a New American Security, spoke with Today, Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram about how AI and the military are becomin...
By Paul Scharre
-
In Brief: Increasing Tensions Between China and Japan Create Risks for the Region
Commentary
This article was originally published in War on the Rocks. China’s latest pressure campaign targeting Japan serves multiple purposes for Beijing. One is to redirect domestic p...
By Jacob Stokes
