Hua Zhibing officially registered and became a student of Beijing's Tsinghua University on Tuesday. Hua Zhibing's appearance, voice and even the music playing in the background of the vlog she introduced herself to the world in were all created using on a record-breaking AI modeling system called Wudao 2.0. It was unveiled at the 2021 Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence (BAAI) Conference on June 1, and, according to its developers, it is the first trillion scale model in China and the largest in the world. Wudao 2.0 is designed to enable machines to think like humans and is reportedly close to passing the Turing test in poetry and couplets creation, text summaries, answering questions and painting. Tsinghua University's newest student will study in the Department of Computer Science and Technology and is expected to grow and learn faster than an average actual person.

The U.S. Defense Department has made battlefield-ready artificial intelligence a priority in its planning, seeking a massive increase in related spending to counter China's rapid advances in the field. The department's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center requested $268 million under the draft federal budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, roughly triple the figure from the previous year. "I am optimistic that 2020 will be a breakout year for the department when it comes to fielding AI-enabled capabilities," Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, the center's director, said in a recent press briefing. "For fiscal year '20, our biggest project will be what we are calling'AI for maneuver and fires,' with individual lines of effort or product lines oriented on warfighting operations," he told reporters. The U.S. military's AI development has focused on predictive maintenance for weapons systems, along with areas such as humanitarian missions and cybersecurity.

The burgeoning private Chinese civilian effort in developing these technologies points to a future that will change not just sales and delivery inside China, but also abroad, as many of the key companies have a global presence. It also suggests that the PLA could rely more heavily on civilian sources for its future unmanned technologies. Peter Warren Singer is a strategist and senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He has been named by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential people in defense issues. He was also dubbed an official "Mad Scientist" for the U.S. Army's Training and Doctrine Command.

Reporting from the Chinese Internet suggests that a second, even stealthier Sharp Sword began flying last year (with a stealthy engine). If flight testing with the prototypes goes as well as the initial flight tests did with the first airframe, the Sharp Sword could enter service as early as 2019-2020. Initially, it's believed that the Sharp Sword will be used for reconnaissance in areas with dense air defense networks, as well as tailing foreign warships. As the Chinese develops a familiarity with the Sharp Sword, it could be used for combat operations as a "first through the door" weapon against highly defended, high-value targets, as well as an aerial tanker for other drones and carrier aircraft (akin to plans for the U.S. MQ-25). There is even the possibility of carrier version for China's planned next generation of catapult equipped aircraft carriers.

With long flowing hair and rosy red cheeks, you might do a double take when you see Jia Jia, a humanoid robot. Dubbed the'robot goddess', Jia Jia is being taught deep learning abilities, including understanding human language, and detecting facial expressions. The life-like cyborg was displayed at the 2016 World Robot Conference, where she pulled in huge crowds eager to see her abilities. Dubbed the'robot goddess', Jia Jia is being taught deep learning abilities, including understanding human language, and detecting facial expressions. It took a team three years to complete the robot, which can speak, show micro-expressions, move its lips and body, yet seems to hold its head in a submissive manner. The humanoid is programmed to recognize human/machine interaction, has autonomous position and navigation and offers services based on cloud technology.

Buddhist monks in China have harnessed technology to create a robot monk. The 2-foot tall robot is called Xian'er and can chant Buddhist mantras, move via voice command and even hold a simple conversation, according to Reuters. Xian'er resembles a novice monk and "lives" at Longquan temple on the outskirts of Beijing. The cartoon-style robot holds a touchscreen to its chest and can answer about 20 questions on Buddhism and daily life. Master Xianfan, Xian'er's creator, described the robot as the perfect vessel for spreading the wisdom of Buddhism in China, via the fusion of science and Buddhism.

PORTLAND, OREGON – The U.S. military on Thursday christened an experimental self-driving warship designed to hunt for enemy submarines, a major advance in robotic warfare at the core of America's strategy to counter Chinese and Russian naval investments. The 132-foot-long (40-meter-long) unarmed prototype, dubbed Sea Hunter, is the naval equivalent of Google's self-driving car, designed to cruise on the ocean's surface for two or three months at a time -- without a crew or anyone controlling it remotely. That kind of endurance and autonomy could make it a highly efficient submarine stalker at a fraction of the cost of the Navy's manned vessels. "This is an inflection point," Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Work said in an interview, adding he hoped such ships might find a place in the Western Pacific in as few as five years. "This is the first time we've ever had a totally robotic, trans-oceanic-capable ship."