Researchers at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) have uncovered evidence of broad experimentation with artificial intelligence across China's military [1]. After analyzing thousands of publicly available procurement requests from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) over the past three years, the CSET team found that Beijing is actively testing and seeking to acquire a wide range of AI-enabled systems.
The research, detailed by Sam Bresnick, Emelia S. Probasco, and Cole McFaul, provides a data-driven overview of the PLA’s interest in emerging technologies. The procurement documents reveal PLA efforts to develop systems for autonomous vehicles, including drone swarms, unmanned ground vehicles, and underwater drones. The requests also show a focus on cognitive and information warfare, with specific interest in deepfake tools, alongside the development of autonomous decision-making systems.
Unlike high-level strategic documents, these acquisition requests offer a ground-level view of the specific capabilities PLA units are attempting to build and integrate. The breadth of the documented experiments, from combat applications to support functions, suggests a widespread and exploratory approach to developing China's military AI capabilities, often referred to as 'intelligentized warfare'. The CSET analysis focuses on the direct evidence from these documents, mapping the PLA's practical steps toward its technological ambitions.
ISN MEDIA
