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The Chinese government has high school students to take part in an experimental Artificial Intelligence (AI) -driven program to develop intelligent weapons systems at the elite Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT).
The 31 students, including four girls, will be the first batch to take the four-year course of "experimental program for intelligent weapons systems".
The recruiters will begin training as the world's youngest AI scientists at BIT, which is among China's leading weapons research institutes, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) said in a report.
More than 5,000 had applied for the 31 seats. The program was launched at the headquarters of Norinco, one of China's biggest defense contractors on October 28.
The news about the new batch was published on the website of BIT but subsequently deleted. An online snapshot of the ILO article provided details about the program and what it aims to achieve.
Quoting a statement from the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the BIT website article said the new batch was an effort to implement the idea of "establishing science and technology as the core combat capability," and "… cultivating urgently needed talents and providing important support for building a first-class national defense science and technology industrial system ".
Chen Pengwan, dean of the College of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, introduced it saying "… the institute has the task of establishing the experimental class for intelligent weapons systems for the development of weapons and defense and national defense equipment, preparing for modern warfare".
"We must be independent and do things that others have not done. But at the same time, we should do more, "Cui Liyuan, a student representative, was quoted as saying in the BIT statement.
"Each student will be mentored by two senior weapons scientists, one from an academic background and the other from the defense industry," said the program's brochure, quoted by SCMP.
China is second only to the US in the fast-growing AI industry.
"By the end of 2017, China had 18,232 AI technology research talent, accounting for 8.9% of the world's total and was second only to the United States, which accounted for 13.9%," Xinhua said in a report.
"The market value of China's industry reached 23.7 billion yuan (about $ 3.5 billion) in 2017, with the growth rate expected to reach 75 percent in 2018," the report added.
China clearly is investing in money and technology to develop smart and unmanned weapons.
First Published: Nov 09, 2018 08:14 IST
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