China Is Developing AI-Enabled Nuclear Submarines That Can Think For Themselves
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Thu, 02/08/2018
A top-level scientist just confirmed that the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is currently building artificial intelligence–powered nuclear submarines that can think for themselves, according to the South China Morning Post.
According to the scientist, who requested their name be withheld because of the “project’s sensitivity,” told the South China Morning Post that China is in the process of upgrading the legacy computer systems of its older submarine fleets with deep learning algorithms to enhance the thinking skills of commanding officers.
The researcher said incorporating a submarine with AI-augmented brainpower will give China’s navy an advantage during wartime environments and push the technology further than it has ever been before.
“Though a submarine has enormous power of destruction, its brain is actually quite small,” the researcher stated.
The researcher says the AI decision-support system with “its own thoughts” would reduce the emotional decision making by commanding officers’ who often come under the severe stress which could affect critical decision making.
While a nuclear submarine depends on the skill, experience and efficiency of its crew to operate effectively, the demands of modern warfare could introduce variables that would cause even the smoothest-run operation to come unglued.
For instance, if the 100 to 300 people in the sub’s crew were forced to remain together in their canister in deep, dark water for months, the rising stress level could affect the commanding officers’ decision-making powers, even leading to bad judgment.
China is embarking into a new era where AI will have a prominent role in the decision making for nuclear submarines during operational usage.
South China Morning Post says the subs’ computer brains are extremely outdated and have never really been upgraded with modern technologies.
First, the technology in most submarine computers tends to predate the vessel’s commissioning. Furthermore, military-grade electronic components have required extensive battle-hardening to withstand shocks, heat or electromagnetic disturbance, sacrificing speed for reliability.
Up till now, the “thinking” function on a nuclear sub, including interpreting and answering signals picked up by sonar, a system for detecting objects under water by emitting sound pulses, has been handled almost exclusively by human naval personnel, not by machines.
The researcher said the AI-infused system must produce basic demands but also be “compact and compatible” with the submarine’s existing computer infrastructure.
“It is like putting an elephant into a shoebox,” the researcher told the South China Morning Post.
“What the military cares most about is not fancy features. What they care most is the thing does not screw up amid the heat of a battle,” he added.
Zhu Min, the lead scientist in China’s deep-water exploration program and researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Acoustics, said China is currently undergoing a modernization of its military through weaponizing systems with AI technologies.
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