In an era where the integration of artificial intelligence into various sectors is reshaping the modern world, China stands at a fascinating crossroads. Despite strict regulations prohibiting AI from taking command of military forces, Chinese scientists have made a groundbreaking advancement: the creation of an AI commander.
Let’s delve into the details.
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Confined strictly to a laboratory at the Joint Operations College of the National Defence University in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, this “virtual commander” mirrors a human commander in every aspect, reports South China Morning Post.
From experience and thought patterns to personality and even their flaws, the AI commander has been designed to replicate the complexities of human leadership.
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In large-scale computer war games involving all branches of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the AI commander has been granted unprecedented supreme command authority. This virtual leader learns and grows rapidly within the endlessly evolving scenarios of these digital conflicts.
In China, the military must follow a strict rule: “The Party commands the gun.” Only the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China can order the PLA to act.
As AI technology advances and can make its own decisions, forward-deployed units like drones and robotic dogs are given more freedom to move and fire. However, command authority at headquarters remains firmly with humans.
Campaign-level military simulations often need human commanders to make quick decisions in response to unexpected events. However, there are very few senior PLA commanders, and their availability is limited, making it impossible for them to take part in many war simulations.
“The current joint operations simulation system suffers from poor simulation experiment results due to the lack of command entities at the joint battle level,” the researchers said.
The AI commander can step in for human commanders when they are unable to participate in large-scale virtual battles or exercises of command authority. Within the confines of the laboratory, it operates freely, exercising this authority without human interference.
Instead of relying solely on analysis, the AI commander prioritises empirical knowledge for its combat decisions, aiming for effective solutions by recalling similar scenarios from its memory and swiftly devising viable plans.
However, humans forget things. To simulate this important vulnerability, scientists have imposed a size limit on its decision-making knowledge base. When the memory reaches capacity, some knowledge units are purged.
The AI commander empowers the PLA to conduct numerous “human-out-of-the-loop” war simulations. It identifies emerging threats, devises strategies, and makes optimal decisions based on the evolving situation when battles encounter setbacks or results are unsatisfactory. It continuously learns and adjusts strategies from both successes and failures.
These operations occur autonomously, without human intervention, offering advantages such as ease of implementation, high efficiency, and support for repeated experimentation.
