Excerpt
Contents
Acknowledgment
Abstract
Abbreviations
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Literature Review
Problem Statement
Research Objectives
Research Questions
Theoretical Framework
Significance of the Study
Methodology
Tentative Organization of Chapters
CHAPTER 2
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND NATIONAL SECURITY
Background
National Security and Artificial Intelligence
Formulating National Security Strategy
National security-related application of AI
China's and America's national security and Artificial Intelligence
CHAPTER 3
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CHINA AND AMERICA’S PROGRESS IN AI
Chinese Progress in Artificial Intelligence
US progress in Artificial Intelligence
Competition's Drivers between China and the US
CHAPTER 4
FUTURE PROSPECTS OF CHINA-UNITED STATES RELATIONS IN THE AI ERA
China On the Road to Artificial Intelligence (AI) Supremacy
Analysis of AI competition between China and the US and its Implications for the US
What Will Happen if China Overtakes the US in AI?
The consequences of a Chinese AI takeover
The new military superpower
Technological hub
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Conclusion
Recommendation
References
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is the outcome of the devotion of many distinguished intellectuals. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Almighty ALLAH, who give me the strength to do the sight to observe and the mind to think and judge, and to enable me to complete my four-year B.S (IR). I would like to extend my gratitude towards my research supervisor and inspirational teacher Dr. Saima Gul for guiding me with her valuable contributions and for motivating me with her positive personality. I would also like to acknowledge the support and motivation provided by my very dear teachers, Mr. Amir, and Ms. Mehak. I would like to thank my family, friends, seniors, and my mentors for their most kind and honest support. Finally, I would like to thank myself for finishing the thesis within the given time with passion and hard work.
ABSTRACT:
Artificial intelligence has recently emerged as a new subject of international competitiveness. In the realm of artificial intelligence, both United states and China are world leaders. The struggle between both the countries in AI will heighten mutual mistrust, accelerate the artificial intelligence arms race, and endanger geopolitical stability. This research looks at how both nations are progressing in many sectors of artificial intelligence and how Beijing is challenging America. However, there remains a gap between them in terms of artificial intelligence advancement. In the race for artificial intelligence supremacy, the United States is losing ground to China because of no long term strategy. The study examines the prospect that artificial intelligence might have an impact on the two nations' national security, as well as substantial alterations in the future power structures of the US and China. Still, China may become an emerging global power, and it is using artificial intelligence to elevate its position by sidelining the United States.
ABBREVIATIONS:
AI Artificial Intelligence
AIDP Artificial Intelligence Development Plan
AIDP New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan
AWCFT The Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation
CCP The Communist Party of China
CIST 19. China Institute of Science and Technology Policy
CNAS Center for a New American Security
CNNIC The China Internet Network Information Center
CSC China State Council
DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DIUX Defense Innovation Unit Experimental
DOD Department of Defense
IMF International Monetary Fund
ITIF The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
NITRD The Networking and Information Technology Research and Development
NSA The National Security Agency
NSTC The National Science and Technology Council
OSTP The Office of Science and Technology Policy
PLA People’s Liberation Army
PTT Power Transition Theory
PWC PricewaterhouseCoopers
US United States
USA United States of America
WB World Bank
WTO WORLD Trade Organization
Chapter 1
Introduction
The contest between the governing United States and growing China is considered the major topic of international affairs in the twenty-first century. The consequences of this rivalry are causing a reconsideration of the international order, of which the United States has been the primary custodian. Today, humanity's history, which has revolved on the aim of constant development, is experiencing another transformation powered by modern technology. For example, with the advancement of artificial intelligence, the human desire to influence society has taken on a new dimension. Artificial intelligence (AI) is having a rapid and powerful impact on the whole world, had become the focal point of the strategic confrontation, and drawing the attention of all nations, which is mainly due to the advancement and progress of machine learning, computing power, and algorithms. Major nations have put substantial money into AI initiatives in recent years to profit from a new cycle of technical and economic growth as well as military advancements. Both China, the world's largest developing country, and the world's largest industrialized country, the United States, have emphasized the relevance of artificial intelligence.
Competition between China and the USA has become established in recent years. Both powers have a keen interest in artificial intelligence. The two countries' competition in the field of AI has led to the creation of many strategic papers and documents, including the Barack Obama administration's 3 major reports on Artificial Intelligence (NITRD, 2016), China's Development Plan for The Next Generation of AI (Chinese State Council, 2017), and the Donald Trump Administration's Artificial Intelligence Executive Order (The White House, 2019). However, the strategy of the two powers to achieve their goals is different.
Similarly, Artificial intelligence has become a key driving force in both China's and the United States' national security agendas. Artificial intelligence progress is expected to result in dynamic changes in national security organizations. Traditional security aspects are rapidly growing as technology developments have introduced new problems. Furthermore, the incorporation of artificial intelligence into national security is having an impact on global geopolitics. China launched its Next-Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan in 2017, while the United States announced the American Artificial Intelligence Initiative, underlining the growing interconnectivity between artificial intelligence's national power and its geopolitical status. Chinese has outpaced the US in strategically important areas such as artificial intelligence, according to America Joint Chief of Staff Paul Selva and Robert Work who served as the former American Deputy Secretary of Defense. Having said that, the United States needs to take specific steps to prevent China from progressing in AI (Freedberg, 2018).
According to the reports of the experts and Researchers from the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), the fast growth of China in developing technologies that are strategically important for the country is likely to pose a danger to US dominance in research and development, so the US must move quickly to stop it (Kania, 2018). Other academics assert that the world-leading Economies are in the midst of a "technological cold war"(Zhong & Mozur, 2018). Brookings’s academics have increasingly highlighted linkages between AI advancement and Beijing and America relations (Hass & Balin, 2019). Furthermore, Kai-Fu Lee, a famous AI expert and chief Executive of Sinovation Ventures, also stated that owing to the rapid growth of AI in the United States and China, there is an increased chance that it will usher in a new global order (Lee, 2018). Such AI-related indicators will have a significant influence on the evolution of China-US relations.
Artificial Intelligence is projected to be a major motivating factor behind a new cycle of technical, economic, along military growth. It may also aid in the rearrangement of global power structures as well as the restructuring of the global order. As Russian President Vladimir Putin has said, “the country that masters AI will become the ruler of the future world” (Vincent, 2017). The quest between the United States and the Chinese Government for artificial intelligence (AI) supremacy has the potential to alter the global power balance. From the standpoint of the United States, technological superiority has traditionally been seen as the basis for fostering success in economic terms as well as ensuring national security. The United States has long been steadily creating global hegemony through dominating strategically essential technologies. Maintaining total dominance in artificial intelligence, according to US officials and leaders, is vital for the US to retain its hegemony. They may suffer if they lose their position as leaders in this sector.
For Beijing, this AI growth trend represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch up with the global tide. Chinese failed to embrace the chance to revitalize the country during past industrial and technological revolutions for a variety of reasons. China is currently at a crucial stage of transition from a huge to a strong state. This period corresponds to the AI-driven technical, industrial, and military revolutions. Furthermore, China has some significant potentials and advantages in AI development. Data, for example, is regarded as the fuel for AI, and deep learning systems need huge volumes of data to be taught and developed.
China is battling to acquire an advantage over the United States, and it is the country with the world's quickest and most AI advances. The rivalry for AI technology between Beijing and America is expected to persist for a longer time, altering power relations. Therefore, this article seeks to investigate how artificial intelligence influences the relationship between the two nations. The fast advancement of AI and its capacity to alter military affairs and the economic advancements would almost certainly lead to a Sino-US AI race. Furthermore, rational state players in an anarchic international system will surely commit themselves to the pursuit of technical advantages that might considerably boost their power and advance national goals. As a result, it is impossible to prohibit governments from secretly developing AI in military, economic, and other sectors.
Literature Review:
As the speed of AI research has accelerated, the literature analyzing the implications of Artificial Intelligence for national security, military, & economic circumstances have grown in recent years. In 1956, computer scientists from around the United States gathered at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire to debate frugally about an emerging area of computer science known as artificial intelligence (AI). They imagined a world in which "machines understand language, construct abstractions and concepts, solve issues that are presently reserved for people, and improve themselves" (McCarthy et.al., 1995). This historical meeting, therefore, laid the groundwork for years of government and commercial AI research, including natural language processing, advancements in perception, machine learning, robotics, cognitive systems, and artificial intelligence (National Science and Technology Council, 2016).
Russell and Norvig (2016) defined artificial intelligence (AI) as systems that replicate cognitive capabilities commonly associated with human traits such as learning, language, and problem-solving. Kaplan and Haenlein (2019) provide a more thorough and perhaps complex characterization of AI in the context of its ability to autonomously understand and learn from external inputs to accomplish objectives through flexible adaptation.
Developments in Artificial intelligence have resulted in new fields of military, commercial that have a huge influence on our everyday life (Bryson, n.d.) Artificial intelligence advancements are expected to bring about dynamic changes in national security organizations. Traditional security aspects are rapidly growing as technology developments offer new difficulties. For example, hybrid warfare is on the increase, which has the potential to boost security systems' defense capabilities (Artificial Intelligence and National Security, n.d.).
Artificial intelligence has become a key driving force in both China's and the United States' national security agendas (Zhu, Q & Long, K, 2019). Senator Ted Cruz in his inaugural speech at The Dawn of AI hearing said that "Giving over leadership in artificial intelligence development to China, Russia, and other foreign countries puts the United States at a technological disadvantage" (Hadley & Nathan, 2017).
Recent advances in artificial intelligence have generated serious concerns regarding the long-term direction and influence of these technologies. In recent years, rivalry has emerged between the United States and China. AI is a topic of great interest to both powers. Because technology plays such an important role in overall economic development and national military strength, the world's leading powers, particularly China and the United States, will unavoidably race to create new technologies to maintain global supremacy in the future (Wu, X, 2020).
The two countries' competitive environment in the fields of Artificial intelligence has led to the creation of several strategic documents, including the Trump administration's AI executive order (White House, 2019), the Obama administration's three major reports on AI (NITRD, 2016), and China's new generation AI development plan (Chinese State Council, 2017). The Defense Department has fostered and funded AI and human-computer interaction (HCI) research and innovation in industrial, academic, and government laboratories since the earliest embryonic computer breakthroughs in the late 1940s and early 1950s. AI and HCI advancements have allowed the DOD to speed efforts toward its objective of strengthening national security while decreasing danger to citizens (Băjenescu, 2019).
Recognizing AI's transformational power, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) inaugurated a new interagency working group in May 2016 to assess the advantages and dangers of AI. OSTP also hosted four workshops between May and July 2016 to encourage public discussion on AI and the challenges and possibilities it brings. The workshop results are included in a public study titled "Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence," which was released with this strategy (Felten, 2016). This strategy makes numerous assumptions regarding the future of AI. First, it implies that AI technology will grow more sophisticated and widespread. Second, it anticipates that the influence of AI on society will expand, particularly in education, national security, employment, and public safety, as well as in economic development in the United States. The key hypothesis emphasizes the rising expansion of industrial investment in AI since recent commercial achievements have improved the apparent return on investment in R&D. However, it also implies that there is a dearth of industry expenditure in particular research fields, implying that there is an insufficient investment. Finally, this strategy anticipates that the demand for and supply of AI knowledge in academia, industry, and governments will continue to rise, placing strain on the public and private workforce (Furman, 2016).
In the third offset strategy, the United States views artificial intelligence (AI) to be one of the potentially disrupting technology and concentrates on Artificial Intelligence-related research and development initiatives, and implementation. Robert Work released a statement in 2017 approving the establishment of the “Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (AWCFT)” in order to improve the use of military intelligence in machine artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies (Department of Defense, 2017).
The United States Senate cleared the 2019 defense spending in early August 2018, declaring it a point of honor to begin developing a United States artificial intelligence policy. The growing global rivalry in this sector is addressed indirectly: among the advice for training, recruiting, and retaining the finest professionals at home, China's efforts to lure the best AI experts, particularly Americans, are mentioned too. (PricewaterhouseCoopers, n.d). In 2016, the NSTC Subcommittee on Machine Learning and AI was created to create a "National AI Research and Development Plan" with seven key strategies (NITRD, 2019).
China's Next Generation AI Plan, published in 2017, declares AI to be a major national priority for the government and outlines the senior leadership's vision for a new Artificial intelligence-driven economic model. Unlike the United States, the Chinese government is putting this strategy into action. For example, it recently tasked Baidu with establishing a national "deep learning laboratory" in collaboration with major institutions (Băjenescu, 2020). China's "Development Plan for the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence" stresses the two-way transition of AI technology between the military and civilian sectors, as well as the application of AI technology to help the military in command decisions, military intelligence, weaponry, and so on (Chinese State Council, 2017).
Beyond this clear advantage, China's military technology revolution has also benefited from the country's approach to AI procurement: a centralized management structure with few boundaries among research done in academics, commercial affairs, and national security decisions. Most foreign observers believe that China's focused approach to AI research gives it distinct advantages over the United States (Martina and Blanchard, 2019).
Furthermore, the United States believes that the Chinese government has "so intertwined their science and innovation frameworks through the exchange, speculation, and consensual investigation that the two started to see of each other as extremely important contenders and opponents," according to Adam Segal, a Council on Foreign Relations expert on technology and security (Zhong & Mozur, 2018). For China, this AI growth trend represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch up with the global tide. During past technical and industrial revolutions, China failed to grab the opportunity for a variety of reasons, and so missed out on the potential to revitalize the country.
China had got a head start on the United States, being the country with the world's quickest and greatest number of AI advances. The rivalry for AI technology between China and the United States is expected to persist for a longer period, altering power relations. In recent years, the United States' view of China has deteriorated. Many academics think that China and the United States have entered a period of strategic competition, with science and technology being one of the most crucial areas of struggle. The United States enjoys a "first-mover advantage" in the creation of artificial intelligence (AI), but China is catching up at such a rapid rate that some US experts anticipate an "arms race" between the two countries (You, & Dingding, 2018).
Given China and the United States' growing intense geopolitical competition in recent years, both countries are expected to compete in AI with tougher tactics (You, & Dingding, 2018). Now that the Chinese government has taken a facilitation approach to acquire a better position in this critical race, the future dynamics will be determined to some extent.
Problem Statement:
Artificial Intelligence is becoming a new subject of international competitiveness. Both China and the United States are competing in the field of Artificial Intelligence. The consumption of Artificial Intelligence applications in military and economic fields can shape the future and is expected to change the future power structure. The progress in artificial intelligence and the desire of China to become the world leader are triggering the United States. China is predicted to surpass the US in the field of Artificial Intelligence, and it is expected that this competition might lead to a shift in the power structure in the coming time.
Research Objectives:
- To analyze the interest of both states in the Artificial Intelligence field at the international level and the impacts of AI on the national security of both states
- To analyze and compare the various technological consumption in both U.S and China in the Age of Artificial Intelligence.
- To analyze the future prospects of China and the US in AI.
Research Questions:
1. What is the impact of Artificial intelligence on the national security of the US and China?
2. What progress the US and China have made until now in the field of Artificial Intelligence?
3. What is the expected futuristic perspective of China and US progress in the age of AI?
Theoretical Framework:
The studies addressing Artificial Intelligence and depicting digital apocalypse, such as the cyber 9/11 incident, are heavily influenced by policy. Their explanation lacks theoretical rigor, resulting in theory-policy gaps in Artificial Intelligence research. This existing gap is even more acute in the debate between China and the United States (U.S) on Artificial Intelligence possibilities. Using Power Transition Theory (PTT), I propose to bridge this gap by examining and exploring the prospect of Artificial Intelligence between America and Beijing. It is found by Organski in 1958. The power transition theory provides a very useful perspective for the understanding of great power relations, due to its genuine development and the impact of its expanding influence on the international system
The theory frames world order as a hierarchical structure where national security is regarded as an indicator that predicts a nation’s relative power. In the discourse of the PPT, studies have greatly emphasized that national security policies affect the position and prominence of a country in the international arena. The theory is still valid and applicable to US-China competition in AI as AI serves as a new indicator in the national security of both countries. China and the United States are engaged in a power transition process. As China grows and develops, it will become more difficult to compromise, but it will also become increasingly able to take a more decisive stance on issues affecting its existing and developing national interests while on the other side U.S will deter China in every Field including Artificial Intelligence because the U.S does not want China to arise as a hegemon.
Power transition theory is a structural and dynamic approach to world politics. Although due to its focus on power relationships it is sometimes associated with the realist school. It differs in terms of its dynamic description of the international system as well as its focus on the importance of status quo evaluations. I would argue that PTT provides a comprehensive and more useful framework to this study. By applying the Power Transition Theory (PTT), it can be depicted that while Artificial Intelligence currently appears sparse, China will eventually become AI-prone and be able to shift the power structure in the economy and military to its favor.
Significance of the Study:
The significance of this research study is multiplex. This work is an attempt to contribute a lot to the academically less touched area of Artificial intelligence. This work attempts to elaborate the interests of major rivals in the domain of Artificial intelligence and its importance in shaping international politics. Furthermore, this study is also useful to highlight the recent intensity of two major powers and a race between them and to spotlight future predictions about global powers and a world system. Moreover, this work focuses to make a significant contribution to a universal debate going on a question that ‘who the coming global giant will be?’ Furthermore, it adds a significant amount of knowledge to the previously limited stock on this topic. The information and data used in this research study will facilitate students of international relations, Political science, Peace and conflict studies, and Geography. This study is a helping guide for anyone who will work in this area in the coming future.
Methodology:
To compare the competition of both the United States of America and China the method of thematic analysis is used. Secondary sources of experience in the relevant literature were used to conduct this research. Government policies in the field of Artificial Intelligence of both states are studied. For comparison of both China and the USA’s consumption of technology of artificial intelligence in the military and economic fields, articles of various newspapers, reports, academic research, organizational publications, and articles are examined. Facts and figures are taken from the data given in government policies regarding artificial intelligence of both countries.
Tentative Organization of Chapters:
The dissertation is divided into four chapters in which an endeavor has been made to fulfill the research objectives. The first chapter is introductory that includes a brief introduction of the thesis and the literature review. It also contains the problem of the statement, research questions, research objectives, methodology, the significance of the study, theoretical framework.
In Chapter 2, an attempt will be made to provide a clear understanding of Artificial intelligence and its impacts on the national security of China and the US. This chapter deals with a brief introduction to Artificial intelligence in the historical context. It is argued that artificial intelligence has profound impacts on national security aspects and policies of any state in modern times and the same is true in the context of US and China national security policies. Therefore, this chapter explores the interests in developing artificial intelligence for the military purpose of both states.
Chapter 3: It will focus on the comparative analysis of China and US progress in the field of AI and an analysis will be done to compare between both the countries as well as to find the differences between them in their race towards gaining AI leadership.
Chapter 4: This chapter will attempt to explain the Future prospects of China's US Progress in the field of AI and will conclude that China could be surpassing the US in the future time and can change the power dynamics.
Chapter 05: This chapter includes future recommendations and the conclusion of this research work.
Chapter2
Artificial Intelligence and National Security
Background:
We now live in the modern age, where every device is called "intelligent" or "smart". The digital society is advancing thanks to the technology of "artificial intelligence". States are trying to reconstruct their civilizations with the help of advanced technology. To have a productive conversation about what artificial intelligence implies for national security, one must first define it. AI is defined as "the study of the computations that enable us to perceive, think, and act" or "the automation of intelligent behavior" (Luger, 2008).
A term that is also used in the United States recent Summer Study on Autonomy by the Defense Science Board defines AI as "the ability of computer systems to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence (e.g., perception, conversation, decision making)." This characterization and explicit link to human performance date back to the early days of AI (Defense Science Board, 2016). The original proposal for the groundbreaking 1956 Dartmouth College Summer Project argued that: (McCarthy et al, 1955).
"Any perspective of learning or any other feature of intelligence can, in principle, be described in enough detail for a machine to simulate it; the goal is to learn how to build machines that can use language, process abstractions, and concepts, resolve issues previously reserved for humans, and improve themselves." (McCarthy et al, 1955).
Definition by Nils J. Nilsson elaborates that: "The practice of making machines intelligent is known as artificial intelligence, and intelligence is just the characteristic that allows an object to operate correctly and predictably in its environment" (Nilsson, 2010). When studying the history of artificial intelligence (AI), it becomes clear that the subject has gone through periods of rapid and gradual progress. Every technology has a wide range of applications in both civilian, economic, and military settings. While technological superiority and leadership have grown more essential in defining success in recent years, the military sector sees new weapons as technologies that can increase a state's military and defense capabilities. The technology used in the military also increases fears and concerns. When Alan Turing, the father of artificial intelligence technology, developed this technology, he started from the following question: "Can machines think? " (Turing, 1950). Turing established the fundamental goal and vision of artificial intelligence technology through the Turing Test (a test of a computer's capacity to display intellectual behavior comparable to that of a person) during World War II, after successfully hacking the secret German encryption machine "Enigma." Computers, according to Turing, can imitate human cognitive activity and even think. The technology available now has validated this concept (Wiener, 1948).
The phrase artificial intelligence was originated by John McCarthy in 1956, when he held the first academic meeting on the subject (McCarthy, 1955). According to new research, since the 1950s, the hunt for AI has gone through stages of optimism and despair. It wasn't until the year 2000 that AI was anticipated to make significant advances. Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is a hot issue, and it is projected to become one of the most significant technologies of the twenty-first century, with the ability to influence international relations and provide instruments for diplomacy and foreign policy (Amaresh, 2020).
Over the last decade, significant developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have sparked several discussions concerning the possible military, economic, and security consequences of AI. The multifaceted nature of today's AI and machine learning is already having a significant influence on how countries conduct their foreign affairs. The structure of the international system is best defined by Neorealism theory: the international system is anarchic, and it is this anarchic structure that drives nations to acquire the power to survive. States secure their existence via self-help. Most nations prefer to expand their military strength to achieve this goal, but in modern times, states attempt to grow their power through breakthroughs in different disciplines, one of which is artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is approaching its third phase of development and has become a new source of worldwide competitiveness, thanks to the exponential rise of Big Data, breakthroughs in computer power, and developments in deep learning algorithms. Competition in the field of artificial intelligence between Chinese and Americans might provoke mutual strategic distrust by changing the power relations structures and it in turn increase the pace of the Artificial Intelligence weapons race, and endanger stability between both countries (Zhu, Q & Long, K, 2019). Therefore, AI is also predicted to have a significant influence on the character and, maybe, the conduct of future conflicts.
National Security and Artificial Intelligence:
There has been much discussion about how artificial intelligence (AI) would impact national security in the short and long term. China's 2017 "Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" underscores the importance of Artificial Intelligence (Allen & Kania, 2019). Subsequently, many other governments, notably the United States, joined the race to maintain their hegemony, as President Donald Trump did in the year of the 2019 with an official order titled “Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence” (Briscoe & Fairbanks, 2020). As mentioned earlier, AI will have a significant impact on national security and continue to transform our society and economy. National security is a concept that states, "a government should protect the state and its people from all kinds of national crisis through a range of power projections, such as political power, power, diplomacy, economic power, military force, and so on" (Audiopedia, 2016).
The advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) will determine the future of power. The nation with the most solid and advanced economic foundation will most likely become the global leader. This foundation depends on the vitality of the creative economy, which in turn depends on AI.
Formulating National Security Strategy:
So far, most studies of the influence of artificial intelligence on national security policy have primarily concentrated on the operational level of combat. This covers how new military capabilities will impact future conflicts, as well as how such capabilities will affect combat on the battlefield (Karlin, M, 2019). Finally, AI will have an impact on the decision-making process and the role of decision-makers in developing key policies. Decision-makers in national security must confront the fundamental quandary of when, why, how, and under what conditions to use national power.
The national security strategy trinity—ends, ways, and means—provides a valuable framework for defining security objectives, how they will be met, and the resources available to do so. National security plan development includes three major thrusts at a more granular level: diagnosis, decision-making, and assessment. Nevertheless, in the age of AI, decision-makers focus on understanding the strategic landscape as it currently exists and its future trajectories, as well as analyzing power dynamics between adversaries and changes in the security environment, as seen through the case of Beijing and American where AI has impacted both countries' national security policies (Karlin, M, 2019).
National security-related application of AI:
The development of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, has changed the security landscape, and brought new challenges to the national security of all countries. Looking to the future, it will become more and more obvious how a country's strength in artificial intelligence will be increasingly intertwined with its geopolitical status. There are several AI applications concerning national security purposes such as:
a. Cybersecurity:
Cybersecurity refers to the art of preventing unwanted network access, gadgets, and data, as well as the practice of assuring information's safety and authenticity. Cybersecurity has proven to be particularly fertile ground for AI-based vulnerabilities. Effective manipulation of information is one of the primary functions of artificial agents. Therefore, Artificial agents may be particularly adapted to network security and information warfare applications. National Security Agency (NSA) Director Michael Rogers stated in October 2016 that AI is "fundamental to the future of cybersecurity." Rogers' remarks came just two months after DARPA hosted its first Cyber Grand Challenge, a head-to-head cyberspace race between autonomous robots. Each system was able to autonomously detect and exploit cyber vulnerabilities in its opponents, fix its flaws, and protect itself against foreign cyber-attacks (Dustin, n.d).
As a result, the potential use of AI in cybersecurity is evolving, which could have a significant impact on national security.
b. Discovering New Cyber Vulnerabilities and Attack Vectors Using Artificial Intelligence:
The use of AI in national security or cybersecurity surveillance creates a new attack vector based on this weakness in the data diet. Attackers could figure out how to systematically feed false information to AI surveillance systems, creating an ignorant automated double agent. The feasibility of such machine learning attacks by poisoning training data has already been demonstrated in recent research-based malware detection systems (Biggio et al, 2012). As previously demonstrated by Microsoft researchers, neural networks can be used to automatically generate malicious input that leads to vulnerability detection. This strategy is suitable for both cyber protection and offense (Rajpal et al., 2017).
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