Xi Jinping urges Chinese armed forces to ‘strengthen military application’ of AI

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on the People's Liberation Army to strengthen its use of artificial intelligence, urging the military to 'strengthen the military application of unmanned intelligent technologies' and build an 'intelligent military system,' according to state news agency Xinhua. Speaking at a Politburo group study session ahead of the PLA's 99th anniversary, Xi emphasized the importance of meeting the centenary modernization goal and noted 'significant progress' since 2012. China aims to basically achieve military modernization by 2035 and become a world-class force by 2049.

Xi Jinping urges Chinese armed forces to ‘strengthen military application’ of AI Xi was speaking ahead of the PLA’s 99th anniversary and his comments offer a rare insight into how its modernisation is progressing Amber Wang /author/amber-wang in Beijing Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on the People’s Liberation Army to enhance its use of AI as part of a drive to develop an intelligent military. He told a Politburo group study session 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,” according to state news agency Xinhua. PLA’s 99th anniversary on Saturday https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3362403/pla-99-how-chinas-military-went-ragtag-rifles-world-class-force?module=inline&pgtype=article and his comments are a probable reflection of the leadership’s current thinking about how the PLA is progressing towards its centenary modernisation goal. This goal has never been made explicit, but the PLA has previously called for the better integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. China’s military aims to become a world-class force by 2049 and to “basically achieve” the modernisation of national defence and the armed forces by 2035. During Thursday’s meeting, Xi emphasised the importance of hitting the centenary goal on time and said the PLA had made “significant progress” in modernising and becoming combat-ready since 2012.