China, Russia Agree to Coordinate AI Use in Military Technology

China-Russia relations have met a common ground regarding artificial intelligence's applications in military technology after the two nations' officials reportedly met in Beijing.

The two countries have reportedly agreed to cooperate and collaborate regarding the use of AI technology. Specifically, the Russian foreign ministry stated the departmental officials from the two nations had "a detailed exchange of assessments" of the use of AI technology for military objectives during the meetings on Thursday.

The Russian statement mentioned talks about "the doctrinal guidelines and initiatives of Russia and China" on the matter, but it did not specify which individuals were engaged. Coordination between the two nations was stated to be paramount within a UN-backed forum, the GGE on LAWS.

The Chinese statement regarding the meeting stated that discussions were not specifically about the military's use of AI but about outer space security, biosecurity, and artificial intelligence.

China and Russia's Growing Relations

The coordination between the two nations follows after the People's Republic of China Ma Zhaoxu met with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow. A meeting was part of the latter's business visit to Russia on January 30.

The parties in the meeting reportedly applauded the two nations' momentum in advancing their relations by their commitments. The two officials then conveyed their willingness to enhance their bilateral collaboration on foreign policy issues, with an unwavering aim of promoting peace and stability in the surrounding area and globally.

Similar to the meeting held regarding AI applications for military tech, the parties also emphasized the importance of China and Russia achieving even closer coordination on the international stage, including within the UN and the UN Security Council.

Major Powers on Artificial Intelligence

China's AI font proves to be advancing, with the nation reportedly approving over 40 AI models for public use in the first half of a year after officials started the licensing process.

Recently, Chinese regulators approved using fourteen large language models (LLM) for general public consumption. This is the fourth set of permissions that China has given, and Xiaomi Corp. is one of the recipients.

On the other hand, Russia reportedly saw its President Vladimir Putin announcing that he would support a national AI development policy, stressing the importance of preventing a Western monopoly.

Putin stressed the importance of utilizing Russian solutions to develop transparent, dependable, and human-safe artificial intelligence systems while speaking at an AI conference in Moscow. Putin stated that the monopolistic domination of such foreign technologies in Russia is intolerable, hazardous, and not permitted.

There are reportedly no set rules for using AI in warfare, even though the US, China, and Russia are three of the leading countries making significant investments in the field. To create international norms, Washington published the Political Declaration on the Responsible Military Use of Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy a year ago.