Role of AI in Arms Race: A Comparative Study of the United States and China

Abstract

The strategic landscape of post-Cold War international affairs is currently undergoing a protracted phase of being reframed. Potentially, the US and China are locked in a complex struggle for hegemony in AI militarization, leading toward a Thucydidean rivalry between a meteorically emerging China and a colossally dominating the United States. A comparative analysis of the course of AI developments by the US and China has explicitly discussed the initiatives and programs, initiated by both states to date. The success graph of US-China military initiatives concerning AI integration depicts the intensification of the competition and deepening of the AI arms race between the two states. The state-of-the-art innovations and advances in AI based capabilities of both states in terms of conventional and non-conventional autonomous weapons such as autonomous unmanned systems (UAVs), hypersonic missiles, land-based conventional missiles, and cruise missiles are painting the contours of great power competition. The research has explored the diverse aspects of the New Cold War between the US and China and their implications for US supremacy as well as for the international setting for peace and security. It has added preliminary insight into the expected implications of a destabilized balance of power in an international arena witnessing the alliance shifts and the altered global power dynamics in the futuristic world order.