The smartest students in China have been chosen and recruited straight from high school to start training as the youngest AI weapon scientists in the world. The Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) selected over 5,000 candidates, but only four girls and 27 boys - all aged under 18 - were selected to be part of the four-year "experimental program for intelligent weapons systems."
The BIT is considered to be the top weapons research institute in China, and this new program is proof on where they stand in developing AI technology for military use. The country is competing with the United States and other nations in making AI deadly applications - such as microscopic robots crawling in the human blood vessels and a nuclear submarine with self-learning chips.
On October 28, BIT launched the program at the headquarters of Norinco, one of the biggest defense contractors in China. A professor involved in the screening process said the selected kids were exceptionally bright, but being bright alone isn't enough. He said they should possess the qualities of being creative, persistent in facing challenges, they should have the willingness to fight, must be passionate in developing new weapons, and they must be patriots as well.
According to the South China Morning Post, every student recruited to the program will be mentored by two senior weapons scientists - one from the defense industry and another one with the academic background. When they completed the short program in the first trimester, they will be asked to select their preferred specialty field, like overall weapon design, mechanical engineering, or electronics. After that, they will be assigned to a relevant defense laboratory to further develop their skills through hands-on experiences.
Upon completing the four-year course, the students were expected to go on a Ph.D. program and be the next leader of the AI weapons program in China. However, Eleonore Pauwels, from the Center for Policy Research, United Nations University in New York, said launching the BIT course concerned her because this is the first university program specifically designed to strategically and aggressively encourage the next generation to deploy and design AI for military research and use.
The BIT program is focused on training smartest children in weaponizing IV, which is for Pauwels, a very powerful yet troubling concept. She said this undergraduate program encouraged children to start thinking how to harness the convergence of AI and genetics systems to deploy and design powerful combinations of weapons targeting a surgical precision and at specific populations.
But, the foreign ministry in China said the country is actively engaged in developing and applying AI technology to serve its scientific and technological progress, economic, as well as social development. They noted that they are aware regarding the possible problems with a lethal autonomous weapon system. So, they started promoting the exploration of preventative measures by the international community, and indeed, the AI is offering a new security arsenal for the country which is set on technological advancement to achieve their goal to become a global leader.
