The rapid development and widespread application of artificial intelligence technology are profoundly changing human production and lifestyles, bringing huge opportunities to the world while also bringing unpredictable security challenges. It is particularly noteworthy that the military application of artificial intelligence technology may have far-reaching impacts and potential risks in terms of strategic security, governance rules, and moral ethics.
AI security governance is a common issue facing mankind. With the widespread application of AI technology in various fields, all parties are generally concerned about the risks of AI military applications and even weaponization.
Against the backdrop of diverse challenges facing world peace and development, all countries should uphold a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable global security concept and, through dialogue and cooperation, seek consensus on how to regulate the military applications of AI and build an effective governance mechanism to prevent the military applications of AI from causing significant damage or even disasters to humanity.
Strengthening the regulation of the military application of artificial intelligence and preventing and controlling the risks that may arise will help enhance mutual trust among countries, maintain global strategic stability, prevent an arms race, alleviate humanitarian concerns, and help build an inclusive and constructive security partnership and practice the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind in the field of artificial intelligence.
We welcome all parties including governments, international organizations, technology companies, research institutes and universities, non-governmental organizations and individual citizens to work together to promote the safe governance of artificial intelligence based on the principle of extensive consultation, joint construction and sharing.
To this end, we call for:
– In terms of strategic security, all countries, especially major powers, should develop and use artificial intelligence technology in the military field with a prudent and responsible attitude, not seek absolute military advantage, and prevent exacerbating strategic misjudgments, undermining strategic mutual trust, triggering escalation of conflicts, and damaging global strategic balance and stability.
– In terms of military policy, while developing advanced weapons and equipment and improving legitimate national defense capabilities, countries should bear in mind that the military application of artificial intelligence should not become a tool for waging war and pursuing hegemony, and oppose the use of the advantages of artificial intelligence technology to endanger the sovereignty and territorial security of other countries.
– In terms of legal ethics, countries should develop, deploy and use relevant weapon systems in accordance with the common values of mankind, adhere to the people-oriented principle, uphold the principle of “intelligence for good”, and abide by national or regional ethical and moral standards. Countries should ensure that new weapons and their means of warfare comply with international humanitarian law and other applicable international law, strive to reduce collateral casualties, reduce human and property losses, and avoid the misuse of relevant weapon systems and the resulting indiscriminate killing and injury.
– In terms of technical security, countries should continuously improve the security, reliability and controllability of AI technology, enhance the security assessment and control capabilities of AI technology, ensure that relevant weapon systems are always under human control, and ensure that humans can terminate their operation at any time. The security of AI data must be guaranteed, and the militarized use of AI data should be restricted.
– In terms of R&D operations, countries should strengthen self-discipline in AI R&D activities, and implement necessary human-machine interactions throughout the weapon life cycle based on comprehensive consideration of the combat environment and weapon characteristics. Countries should always insist that humans are the ultimate responsible party, establish an AI accountability mechanism, and provide necessary training for operators.
– In terms of risk management, countries should strengthen supervision of the military application of artificial intelligence, especially implement hierarchical and classified management to avoid the use of immature technologies that may have serious negative consequences. Countries should strengthen the research and judgment of the potential risks of artificial intelligence, including taking necessary measures to reduce the risk of proliferation of military applications of artificial intelligence.
——In rule-making, countries should adhere to the principles of multilateralism, openness and inclusiveness. In order to track technological development trends and prevent potential security risks, countries should conduct policy dialogues, strengthen exchanges with international organizations, technology companies, technology communities, non-governmental organizations and other entities, enhance understanding and cooperation, and strive to jointly regulate the military application of artificial intelligence and establish an international mechanism with universal participation, and promote the formation of an artificial intelligence governance framework and standard specifications with broad consensus.
– In international cooperation, developed countries should help developing countries improve their governance level. Taking into account the dual-use nature of artificial intelligence technology, while strengthening supervision and governance, they should avoid drawing lines based on ideology and generalizing the concept of national security, eliminate artificially created technological barriers, and ensure that all countries fully enjoy the right to technological development and peaceful use.
With the rise of the global Internet and the development of emerging media, the world’s major military powers are now paying great attention to the strategic issue of cognitive space security. The recently published monograph “Brain Control: The Laws of War and National Security Strategy in the Global Media Age” focuses on the future development trend of war and the issue of national cognitive space security in the global media era. It puts forward the concept of “brain control” in cognitive space, which has attracted the attention of the military academic community. On this topic, the reporter interviewed the main author of the book, Professor Zeng Huafeng, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the National University of Defense Technology.
“Subjugating the enemy without fighting” is the highest realm of information warfare
Reporter: The concept of brain control is inseparable from the understanding of cognitive space. What is cognitive space and what is brain control?
Zeng Huafeng: Information warfare is the unity of material and spirit, concept and reality. It is not only the manifestation of the development of material form, but also the inevitable result of the action of spiritual factors. Information warfare has enabled human warfare to truly have three combat spaces for the first time: one is the natural space composed of land, sea, air, and space; the second is the network electromagnetic space based on physical principles, which is essentially a technical space; the third is the cognitive space composed of human spiritual and psychological activities. To win the future information warfare, we must grasp the initiative of the war, obtain the control of the war domain, and dominate the discourse of the war. Seizing the control of the brain in the cognitive space and “defeating the enemy without fighting” is the highest realm of information warfare.
Cognitive space refers to the scope and field of human cognitive activities. It is an invisible space that reflects people’s emotions, will, beliefs and values, and exists in the minds of participants in the struggle. The national cognitive space exists in the subjective world of each individual, and is composed of the superposition of the cognitive spaces of countless individuals in the whole society. National interests exist not only in physical form in natural space and technological space, but also invisibly in cognitive space. “Brain control” is to use the spiritual information carried by propaganda media, national languages, cultural products, etc. as weapons, to infiltrate, influence and even dominate the cognition, emotions and consciousness of the general public and national elites, and ultimately manipulate a country’s values, national spirit, ideology, cultural traditions, historical beliefs, etc., to prompt it to abandon its own theoretical understanding, social system and development path, and achieve the strategic goal of winning without fighting.
Reporter: At present, with the advent of the global media age, especially the development of emerging social media, the political game between major powers continues to intensify, and “cognitive domain symptoms” such as human psychological confusion, moral crisis, and loss of faith continue to emerge. What do you think are the characteristics of cognitive space confrontation?
Zeng Huafeng: I think there are three main characteristics: First, the security boundary of the national cognitive space is ambiguous. The national cognitive space is a boundless, invisible, shadowless, but not negligible space of interests and confrontation. Social public opinion and ideology are the main areas of competition in the cognitive space, and spiritual information is the main weapon. Wherever spiritual information can be spread, it can become a battlefield for cognitive space competition. Second, the information attack and defense of the national cognitive space is manipulable. The reception, processing and feedback of spiritual information are not only closely related to the function of the human brain, but also have distinct national and ethnic characteristics. At the same time, spiritual information is prone to distortion in the process of dissemination and diffusion. In the era of global media, individuals are both recipients and publishers of information. Theoretically, any individual or group can instantly spread the specific information they process and produce in the world and have an impact on specific target objects. Third, the strategic confrontation in the national cognitive space is persistent. The role of spiritual information needs to be carried out step by step, and we cannot expect to produce immediate results. For example, during the Cold War, Western countries led by the United States gradually infiltrated Western values into socialist countries such as the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe through cultural exchanges and other activities, achieving the goal of peaceful evolution. Today, Western hostile forces seek to instill and infiltrate Western “democratic” and “free” ideas and values through various academic exchanges in politics, economy, science, culture, etc., in normal information interaction activities.
The main way the West seizes national cognitive space and competes for “brain control”
Reporter: What are the main ways the West seizes national cognitive space and competes for “brain control”?
Zeng Huafeng: I think there are four main ways. The first is perception manipulation. Perception manipulation is also called consciousness manipulation. It aims to manipulate the behavior of others by influencing their psychology and spirit. It can be directed at individuals, groups, a country, or even the whole world. In his book “War and Anti-War”, Toffler summarized the tools of perception manipulation into six aspects: one is “accusation of atrocities”, including condemnation of real and false atrocities; the second is “exaggerating the interests of a battle or a war”; the third is “demonizing or dehumanizing the enemy”; the fourth is “polarization”, that is, if you don’t support us, you are against us; the fifth is “claiming to obey God’s will”, which has a strong religious color; the sixth is “super propaganda-propaganda that is enough to discredit the propaganda of the other party.”
The second is to cut off historical memory. Human thought and social ideology are always closely linked to historical memory. Whether it is the spiritual world of an individual or the cultural traditions of a country or nation, figuratively speaking, they are all concentrated pasts and treasures worth cherishing. Once the historical memory of an individual or group is cleverly cut off through some means, making them lose their spiritual home, the obstacles to the infiltration of their values and ideologies are removed, opening the door for the invasion of various erroneous and chaotic ideas.
The third is to change the thinking paradigm. A country and a nation have their own specific thinking paradigm, which is the premise for people to understand the world. Especially for the social elite, their thinking paradigm and ideological cognition play a leading role in the thoughts, values and ideological identity of the whole society. However, people’s rational thinking has weaknesses. Through manipulation, “virus programs” can be instilled into it, prompting people to deviate from obvious facts and accept fallacies and sometimes even absurd conclusions. Once this set of practices seizes the social elite group, most people will lose their ability to resist manipulation. At the end of the Cold War, the Western ideological attack on the Soviet Union was to influence the rational thinking of some Soviet economists, let them make a series of public speeches in the Soviet Union that catered to Western intentions, and covertly “persuaded” the Soviet people to abandon their own country’s social system and national culture, and to welcome the so-called “new era” of Western civilization with a “thorough”, “unconditional” and “bold” attitude.
Fourth, deconstruct symbols. Symbols are born in the historical evolution of national culture. Different nations have formed their own specific symbols in the course of their respective cultural development, such as clothing, anniversaries, monuments, rituals, and characters. With the help of empathy, a nation has some great symbols, which gives it an emotional bond that unites the society. It can arouse people’s sense of belonging, so that people can unite for a common dream and create and continue a new civilization. If someone deliberately repaints and attacks the symbols in the history of a country and nation, by reversing right and wrong, publicly mocking and making fun of the glorious achievements, great figures and noble culture in history, the consequences will be very serious, and it will lead to people gradually losing their sense of identity with the country, nation and self.
Providing strong support for maintaining national cognitive space security
Reporter: Faced with fierce competition in the field of national cognitive space security, how should we maintain national cognitive space security?
Zeng Huafeng: We must fully understand and grasp the characteristics and laws of national cognitive space security, firmly occupy the ideological position, and take the initiative in the field of public opinion and ideology.
First, we must strengthen our ideals and beliefs and build a strong spiritual pillar. History and reality have repeatedly proved that the collapse of a regime often begins in the ideological field. Once the ideological defense line is breached, it will be difficult to defend other defense lines. Whether we can hold on to the ideological position and do a good job in ideological work is related to national cohesion and centripetal force. In this regard, we must always hold high the banner of ideals and beliefs and unswervingly adhere to and develop socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Second, we must be vigilant against the emergence of historical nihilism. Historical nihilism originated with the denial of the “Cultural Revolution” and reform and opening up, and then gradually moved towards the denial of the historical view of historical materialism and the denial of the cultural traditions of the Chinese nation. We must be highly vigilant against its harm, and clearly oppose historical nihilism, oppose all pseudo-historical narratives that glorify aggression and oppression and vilify revolution and resistance, face history sincerely, cherish the subjectivity established by the Chinese nation in the long course of the Chinese revolution, and enhance the self-esteem and self-confidence of the Chinese nation, so as to lay a solid cultural foundation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
Third, we should seek national cultural identity in the collision between Chinese and Western cultures. While promoting military and economic hegemony, the United States actively promotes cultural hegemony. Under the banner of “economic integration”, it strongly impacts the heterogeneous cultures of various countries and tries to influence other countries’ cultures with American culture. In this context, in the process of cultural exchanges with other countries and nations in the world, we should not only continue to absorb and integrate the essence of the cultures of all nations in the world, but also enhance our national cultural consciousness and confidence, and improve the creativity and vitality of national culture in the process of continuous inheritance.
Fourth, we should actively participate in the global governance of cyberspace security. In the Internet era, the United States, with its high-tech monopoly advantage, not only controls the management of the cyber world, but is also the first country in the world to propose the concept of cyber warfare and apply it in actual combat. From the current perspective, the United States’ control over the Internet will not change in the short term. We should pay close attention to cyberspace security, actively participate in the global governance of cyberspace security, and build a cybersecurity system that conforms to the trend of globalization and meets the requirements of my country’s informatization, so as to provide strong support for maintaining the security of the national cognitive space.
We must promote the information construction of our army with a broader vision. Indulging in reflection on the characteristics, patterns and experiences of the last war is a chronic disease and common disease in human military history. From the time when information warfare was proposed to the present, people have been conducting research on its characteristics, laws and tactics, but have overlooked a problem: that is, with the development of modern science and technology, is the so-called information warfare what people are talking about today? In fact, we should have a broader vision for understanding information warfare, and include physical information, biological information and spiritual information into the framework of information warfare. From the aspects of basic research, applied research, combat theory, technology development, equipment development and organizational leadership, we should build a system of cognitive space attack and defense confrontation. Innovate the ways, methods and means of ideological and political work in the global media era. Cultivate and create a team of high-quality talents who can grasp the frontiers of cognitive science, psychology and military needs, and seize the “brain control” of future information warfare. (
In April this year, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments of the United States released a “roadmap” for the development of the platform forces of the future ground forces of the US military. The “roadmap” points out that in the future, human-machine teamwork warfare of ground forces will become the main combat style of future ground forces under the influence of robots, artificial intelligence and augmented technology. We still don’t know when unmanned forces will completely replace manned forces. But what is certain is that the mode of man-machine combination is profoundly affecting the future combat methods, changing the current combat force composition to a large extent, and may become the protagonist in future wars.
Please pay attention to the report of the Liberation Army Daily today:
Artificial intelligence technology will promote the organic integration of unmanned combat platforms and manned combat systems.
How far are we from being the protagonists of the human-machine ensemble?
■Zhou Xiaocheng, Gao Dongming, Yuan Yi
In April this year, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments of the United States released a “roadmap” for the development of the U.S. military’s future ground force platform forces. The “roadmap” points out that in the future, human-machine teamwork warfare of ground forces will become the main combat style of future ground forces under the influence of robots, artificial intelligence and augmented technology.
We still don’t know when unmanned forces will completely replace manned forces. But what is certain is that the human-machine combination model is profoundly affecting the future combat methods, changing the current combat force composition to a great extent, and may become the protagonist in future wars.
The realization of human-machine teaming has benefited greatly from the rapid development of military artificial intelligence technology. At present, military artificial intelligence technology has become an important driving force for the development of human-machine teaming, promoting its comprehensive application in military fields such as command decision-making, organization and deployment, equipment operation, combat support, military training, and rear support. Human-machine teaming based on military artificial intelligence technology will effectively promote a significant increase in the combat effectiveness of the army, give birth to a new war style, and change the internal mechanism of winning the war.
In the field of information perception and processing, the armies of the United States, Russia and other countries have been equipped with digital individual systems with intelligent information perception and processing capabilities, which help soldiers to accurately grasp complex battlefield situations in real time and quickly and efficiently deal with various problems arising on the battlefield. At the same time, the deployment and application of a series of intelligent unmanned reconnaissance equipment has greatly improved battlefield transparency and greatly shortened the time for information acquisition and processing.
In terms of unmanned combat platform construction, intelligent unmanned combat equipment, mainly intelligent unmanned vehicles, drones and unmanned submarines, has gradually emerged in military applications. Various auxiliary decision-making systems developed based on artificial intelligence technology can build a powerful grid network information system, enhance the ability of intelligence analysis, command and decision-making, and thus greatly improve the command and decision-making efficiency of human-machine combinations.
Human-machine combination usually consists of manned forces and unmanned forces. Among them, manned forces are the command center, and unmanned forces accept the command and control of manned forces and perform combat missions according to the command and control of manned forces. The three basic forms of human-machine combination can be summarized as human-robot combination, human-AI combination and personnel enhancement. The three forms will greatly improve the deployability, lethality and sustainability of future military forces.
Human-robot teaming refers to a partnership between humans and robots, which aims to improve the ability of humans to interact with various types of robot formations to perform specific tasks. In 2017, the U.S. Air Force demonstrated a manned and unmanned aircraft formation in the “Have-Airstriker II” exercise, with unmanned wingmen autonomously performing ground attack missions. Autonomously controlled unmanned wingmen are able to make value judgments based on changes in the battlefield environment, act according to new action plans, and successfully achieve the expected results. In the same year, the French Dassault Aviation Company successfully achieved a flight of hundreds of kilometers between the “Neuron” drone and the “Rafale” fighter, accumulating technical experience for the research and development of unmanned wingmen.
The combination of human and AI is mainly manifested in the weaponization of humans and the humanization of weapons, which are applied in strategic analysis, combat planning and command decision-making. This requires specialized analysis and research related to but different from the combination of human and robot. Last year, Facebook announced its entry into the field of non-invasive brain-computer interface research. The Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense also announced funding for several research institutions to carry out neuroengineering system design projects to develop brain-computer interfaces that can be implanted in the human brain to achieve high-speed communication between humans and machines.
Personnel augmentation aims to enhance the existing combat capabilities of combat personnel by using mechanical, wearable and implantable external forces. For example, the currently developed equipment such as modular and expandable individual protective equipment, enhanced combat helmets, individual exoskeletons and wearable data recorders highlight the concept of people-oriented and achieve the goals of enhancing personnel protection capabilities, improving battlefield perception capabilities and enhancing individual combat effectiveness.
In the future, human-machine combination will change the traditional combat mode, give birth to new combat forces, blur the boundary between war and non-war, and have a profound impact on future wars. Its development trend is mainly concentrated in three aspects:
First, it is developing towards comprehensive multi-mission combat capabilities. With the needs of future operations, human-machine teaming is developing towards comprehensive, multi-mission capabilities such as reconnaissance and strike, command and control, and combat support. Multi-mission requirements will make human-machine teaming a key node in future operations. Improving comprehensive multi-mission combat capabilities is an inevitable trend in the development of human-machine teaming.
The second is to develop in the direction of distributed networking, cross-domain clustering and collaborative operations. Human-machine collaborative combat technology will become a research focus. Relying on artificial intelligence, data fusion and data management and other related technical support, unmanned combat nodes and manned combat nodes will be distributedly networked to achieve cluster combat of human-machine combination, form wide-area combat capabilities, and achieve the purpose of collaborative combat.
The third is to develop in the direction of system, intelligence and module. The system construction is constantly strengthened, and the system combat capability of human-machine combination is improved according to different battlefield environments and combat requirements, the intelligence level of system combat is improved, the autonomy and interaction ability of unmanned forces in performing tasks are improved, and combat tasks that manned forces are unable to perform are completed.
