Researchers at a Chinese university last month allegedly handed over control of a satellite to an artificial intelligence (AI) program for 24 hours, showing how far the country will go to find ways advance with AI technology, experts warn.
“Many Americans understandably want to hit the pause button on AI development to address the risk issues. Unfortunately, China is moving forward, as its 24-hour satellite experiment shows,” he said Gordon Chang, an expert on China, to Fox News Digital.
Researchers at Wuhan University allegedly handed over control of Qimingxing 1, a small Earth observation satellite, to a terrestrial AI program. The program had freedom, without human command, assignment or intervention, the South Morning China Post reported. Researchers developed artificial intelligence using data from around the world, creating it not to chat, but to take initiative based on its training and growing understanding of natural and human activities.
Principal investigator Wang Mi said the experiment broke mission planning rules, which require satellites to have specific orders or assignments before taking action.
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Huo Liang, founder of Jiangsu Shenlan Space Co. Ltd., gives a lecture to students of Wuhan University on China Youth Day on May 4, 2023, in Wuhan, China. (VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
During the supposed experiment, Wang’s team watched the satellite as it picked places on Earth to make closer observations. The satellite identified an ancient city along the Ganges River in northeast India and home to the Bihar Regiment, which clashed with Chinese forces in the disputed Galwan Valley in 2020, and also focus on the Japanese port city of Osaka, which occasionally hosts the United States Navy. ships, according to the SMCP.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the department was aware of the reports about the Wuhan University experiment, but referred the university and the Chinese government for more details.
“The Communist Party’s only regulation of technology is to ensure that no one uses AI to criticize, mock or otherwise undermine its government,” Chang said. “Since we don’t want to live in a world where the Chinese Communists dominate AI, we have no choice but to continue development as fast as we can. China can single-handedly prevent humanity from adopting safeguards.”
“The bottom line: The Chinese Communists will do anything, which means we have to match them step by step in AI,” he added. “This is not an ideal outcome, but ideal outcomes are not possible.”
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Graduates wave Chinese national flags during the graduation ceremony at Wuhan University on June 22, 2022 in Wuhan, China. (Han Zhilin/VCG via Getty Images)
Charles Clancy, senior vice president of MITER and GM of MITER Labs, told Fox News Digital that all major companies operate satellites with some level of automation to begin with, including how they manage orbits, schedule data uploads and downloads, as well as optimize missions. so this is just another step in the evolution of that process.
“As AI has continued to evolve, it has been able to take over more and more tasks from human operators, allowing humans to focus more on the big picture,” Clancy said. “Sometimes that advanced automation is code that’s on the satellite, and sometimes it’s code that’s on the ground sending instructions to the satellites.”
Clancy also stressed that while the details of the AI model remain unknown, it does not appear to be a “particularly revolutionary” example, most likely an image-based model that uses an algorithm to pick out ground targets. He pointed to companies like BlackSky that already use similar AI optimization for operations.
In fact, AI will likely make it easier to program satellites, since they only contact ground stations “a handful of times” in a typical 90-minute orbit, Clancy noted.
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A rocket carrying a satellite lifts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on December 29, 2022 in Xichang, China. (Li Jieyi/VCG via Getty Images)
Matt McInnis, a senior program fellow at the China Institute for the Study of War, told Fox News Digital that Beijing sees artificial intelligence as a key tool to help it “leap” the US military for superiority and “allowing them to make decisions in potential conflicts”. much faster and more accurately.”
“China is investing heavily in AI across the board, but the top priority is how it can help them transform their military into a true world-class power and, frankly, surpass the United States,” McInnis said. , and added which is “a critical component” to this strategy.
McInnis referred to recent revelations by the Israel Defense Forces that it used AI during the 2021 Gaza conflict, which helped the Israelis make quick decisions and also determine likely locations for terrorists, which lead to the capture of two enemy combatant leaders.
“Certainly, our concern is keeping up with our ability to observe the battlespace, observe potential areas of conflict, identify targets and then process them to make decisions, and there is AI that will be part of ‘this additive intensification of objectives’. McInnis said. “Then there’s the AI that’s part of the decision-making about targets, which is even more complex.”
XICHANG, CHINA – DECEMBER 29: A Long March 3B launch vehicle carrying the Shiyan-10 02 satellite is ready to lift off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on December 29, 2022 in Xichang, Autonomous Prefecture from Liangshan Yi, Sichuan Province of China. ((Photo by Li Jieyi/VCG via Getty Images))
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“I think that’s really where China wants to go, where they can do everything in the AI-enabled cycle,” he added.
“As China continues to modernize, will it be willing, on the one hand, to give up or allow artificial intelligence to make decisions that have traditionally resided in humans or humans processing information? Will they really develop an AI in which they can trust. and be able to control?” he said
“Partly, I think there’s a lot of pressure to do this because I believe [Chinese President] Xi Jinping still has many doubts about the party, about the loyalty and capabilities of the staff, and AI is sometimes seen as compensating for the lack of quality and capability.”
Peter Aitken is a reporter for Fox News Digital focusing on national and world news.
