Enhance use of AI to develop intelligent military: Xi tells PLA
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on the armed forces to enhance use of AI as part of a drive to develop an “intelligent military system” and asked them to enhance combat capabilities as a testing criterion for promoting high-quality modernisation.
Speaking ahead of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) 99th anniversary celebrated on Saturday, Xi said the military has made “significant progress” in modernisation and called for “decisive” advances to achieve its objectives.
Xi, who also heads the military, told a Politburo group study session on Thursday that the PLA should “strengthen the military application of unmanned intelligent technologies, deepen the development and application of network information systems, and gradually build an intelligent military system”, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Unmanned technologies broadly mean AI tools.
Combat capabilities remain the ultimate objective and testing criterion for promoting the high-quality modernisation of national defence and the armed forces, Xi said.
It is vital to strengthen the systematic integration of combat capabilities, conduct rigorous combat-oriented test and evaluation and bolster military training and combat readiness, thereby effectively safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, he said. Xi heads the Central Military Commission, which is the overall high command of the PLA. Since he took over power in 2012, Xi has increased real-time exercises to test their strength.
