China’s military researchers have proposed a redesigned “AI principles and practice course” for graduate students with “educating for war” at its centre, embedding combat scenarios to better prepare future officers for intelligent warfare.
Researchers from the National University of Defence Technology’s College of Intelligence Science and Technology outlined their proposal in the July issue of the journal Defence Industry Conversion in China.
The initiative comes as China seeks to cultivate more military personnel with the technical skills to use artificial intelligence (AI) in future warfare.
As global militaries explore the use of AI in planning, training and combat, the technology is also changing what the troops need to learn, with China aiming to train forces capable of applying emerging technologies to armed operations.
The researchers said case studies in the existing AI course lacked sufficient “military flavour” and needed to be redesigned to better serve the practical needs of “educating for war”.
The university introduced “Principles and Practice of Artificial Intelligence” as a tailored course for non-AI science and engineering graduate students in its 2022 autumn semester.