China warns US AI in military could lead to dystopian future

China warned the US this week about the potential pitfalls of its aggressive use of artificial intelligence (AI) in military operations, likening it to an apocalyptic scenario depicted in films like “The Terminator.”

Donald Trump’s administration advocates for unbridled AI applications within the military structure. Pentagon sources confirmed that Elon Musk’s Grok system has been approved for classified settings while Anthropic was blacklisted after refusing to permit its Claude AI model for surveillance and autonomous lethal warfare.

A spokesperson from China’s defence ministry, Jiang Bin, expressed these concerns on Wednesday. “Such choices as unrestricted AI deployment by military forces, allowing AI to interfere in the sovereignty of other nations, or giving algorithms the power to decide who lives and who dies, not only erode ethical boundaries but also risk a technological escalation,” he stated.

The Pentagon’s dispute with Anthropic intensified after it announced that its Claude model would be barred from certain uses. This came during the US military strike on Iran days earlier. Claude is now the most widely deployed AI system within the Defense Department’s classified networks, and no other such models are operating under similar conditions.

Anthropic’s refusal to allow its technology for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons systems infuriated Pete Hegseth, then-head of the Pentagon. This prompted Trump to direct all federal agencies to cease using Anthropic’s technology immediately after the strike on Iran. Just hours later, Hegseth designated Anthropic as a “supply-chain risk to national security” and ordered no military contractor, supplier, or partner to conduct any commercial activities with it within six months.

This directive allowed for a six-month transition period specifically for the Pentagon itself but prohibited other entities from engaging with Anthropic. The warnings echoed concerns over an AI-induced dystopia that could unfold in future conflicts, mirroring the chilling scenario depicted in films like “The Terminator,” where AI-controlled robots waged war against humanity.