China’s military display and the U.S. countermove were part of an escalating global arms race over AI-backed autonomous weapons and defense systems. Designed to operate by themselves using AI, the technology reduces the need for human intervention in decisions like when to hit a moving target or defend against an attack.The buildup has been compared to the dawn of the nuclear age in the 1940s, when the atomic bomb’s destructive power forced rival nations into an uneasy standoff.The demonstration of technological might immediately set off alarm bells in the United States. Pentagon officials concluded that America’s program for unmanned combat drones was lagging China’s, according to three U.S. defense and intelligence officials. Russia, too, was thought to be ahead in building facilities that could produce advanced drones. Is AI the new atomic bomb in making ?
