China won AI battle against US, former Pentagon software chief says

LONDON, Oct. 11 (Reuters) – China has won the battle for artificial intelligence against the United States and is heading for global domination due to its technological advances, the former head of software at the Pentagon.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, is likely to dominate many key emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and genetics within a decade, according to Western intelligence assessments.

Nicolas Chaillan, the Pentagon’s first software chief who resigned in protest at the slow pace of technological transformation in the US military, said the lack of response put the United States at risk.

“We have no chance to fight against China in 15 to 20 years. For the moment, it is already done, it is already over in my opinion,” he told the newspaper. “Whether it takes a war or not, it’s kind of anecdotal.”

China was poised to dominate the world’s future, controlling everything from media narratives to geopolitics, he said.

Chaillan blamed slow innovation, the reluctance of U.S. companies like Google (GOOGL.O) to work with the state on AI, and the deep ethical debates over the technology.

Google was not immediately available for comment outside of business hours.

Chinese companies, Chaillan said, were forced to work with their government and were making “massive investments” in AI without regard to ethics.

He said US cyber defenses in some government departments were at “kindergarten level.”

Chaillan announced his resignation in early September, saying military officials were repeatedly tasked with cyber initiatives they lacked experience.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Air Force said that Frank Kendall, Secretary of the United States Air Force, discussed with Chaillan his recommendations for the future development of the department’s software after his resignation and thanked him for his contributions, said the FT.

Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Robert Birsel

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