'Absolutely Not True': Army Official Rejects Claim That US Has Lost AI Battle to China

The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy between the United States, China, and Russia could prove to be the most critical military development of the 21st century. However, a former senior Air Force official believes we’ve already lost to China, a notion the Army firmly rejects.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Nicolas Chaillan, a former senior Air Force official, said “We have no competing fighting chance against China in 15 to 20 years. Right now, it’s already a done deal; it is already over in my opinion.”

The interview made it appear as if China owns a current AI advantage that is impossible to overcome. However, the notion that the AI war has already been lost, is not shared by the Army’s Chief Information Officer, Raj Iyer.

Iyer flat out rejected Challian's remarks, telling Breaking Defense that the former Air Force official's assessment of the US' AI standings are "absolutely not true." He further explained that the US' global partnerships provide "trade intelligence information" that China lacks in the industry.

“I can tell you the Chinese don’t have that," he told the outlet. "They’re operating in a vacuum, and they’re relying on nefarious methods and cyberattacks to be able to get to, you know, what they think they know that we have.”

Iyer did concede that the Chinese are experts at applying AI technologies, largely because they’re willing to use it on their own population. However, he asserts that the actual technology at the US’ disposal is more advanced than the Chinese.

While the Army believes the US has an AI advantage, the RAND Corporation released a report indicating that the combined AI capabilities of China and Russia will approach the US’ by the end of this year.

With China setting its sights on being the world leader in AI technology and the growing cooperation between them and Russia, the United States faces a daunting task to remain the world’s AI leader. Artificial intelligence could be the military technology that comes to define the growing US-China rivalry in the way that nuclear weapons defined the Cold War.