The Pentagon's self-described sprint to put together a more effective plan to confront and counter a rising China may be over, but the race to stay ahead of Beijing's aggressive advancements in artificial intelligence is far from done. That initial sprint culminated in June, months after the U.S. Defense Department's China Task Force recommended a series of internal, structural changes to ensure potential Chinese military threats did not escape notice or go unanswered. Other major initiatives remained classified, though U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is making clear that maintaining U.S. dominance in artificial intelligence, or AI, will be key. "In the AI realm as in many others, we understand that China is our pacing challenge," Austin told a conference in Washington on Tuesday. "Beijing already talks about using AI for a range of missions, from surveillance to cyberattacks to autonomous weapons," he said.