Russia is building an army of robot weapons, and China's AI tech is helping

Russia is developing an array of autonomous weapons platforms utilizing artificial intelligence as part of an ambitious push supported by high-tech cooperation with neighboring China. The extent to which Russia has prioritized AI in modernizing its military was featured in a report entitled "Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy in Russia," which was published Monday by the CNA nonprofit research and analysis group located in Arlington, Virginia. The report's authors worked closely with the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to produce what the organization called "the first major piece of US research that articulates contemporary Russia's main initiatives, achievements, and accomplishments in AI and autonomy efforts and places those initiatives within the broader technological landscape in Russia." "Russian military strategists have placed a premium on establishing what they refer to as'information dominance on the battlefield,'" the report stated, "and AI-enhanced technologies promise to take advantage of the data available on the modern battlefield to protect Russia's own forces and deny that advantage to the adversary." While there are significant challenges and some reservations toward ceding critical decision-making capabilities to artificial intelligence and away from human minds, trends clearly signal that Russian efforts to introduce these advanced capabilities are well underway.