US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the US-Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the latest instalment of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, Amber Wang looks at the prospects for joint progress on military use of AI.
China and the United States are facing calls to discuss the safe military use of artificial intelligence when their two leaders meet later this week.
The technology has been increasingly used by militaries around the world – including in the US-Israeli war on Iran.
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However, presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are expected to focus on broader political issues, such as establishing communication channels on military AI risks to prevent crisis escalation, according to Chinese analysts.
It is also possible that the two sides could move towards more detailed discussions of the understanding reached in 2024 that only humans, rather than computers, should decide whether to use nuclear weapons.
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The Iran conflict has seen the US military use AI more extensively than in any previous war. The systems deployed include Palantir’s Maven Smart System, which was used to collect and analyse data from multiple sources and recommend potential operations.