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Cao Jiaxuan

China’s military on Wednesday warned the United States against allowing artificial intelligence (AI) to “determine life and death” in warfare, as a dispute between the Pentagon and AI firm Anthropic highlighted growing tensions over military use of the technology.
Speaking at a regular briefing in Beijing, defence ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said the “unrestricted application of AI by the military” could “erode ethical constraints and accountability in wars” and risk a “dangerous technological runaway”.
His remarks came in response to a question referencing reports that the US was pressing domestic technology companies to allow broader military use of their AI systems, and that it had already deployed such tools in operations related to conflicts involving Iran and Venezuela.
Jiang criticised what he said were choices, including “using AI as a tool to violate the sovereignty of other nations”, as well as “allowing AI to excessively affect war decisions, and giving algorithms the power to determine life and death”.
“China believes that human primacy must be upheld in military applications of AI, and that all relevant weapon systems must remain under human control,” he said, adding that Beijing supported a “people-centred approach and the principle of AI for good”.


He also warned of the potential risks of allowing machines to dominate battlefield decisions, referencing the dystopian scenario depicted in the 1984 American film The Terminator.
“A dystopia … could one day come true,” he said, adding that China was ready to work with other countries to improve risk prevention and ensure AI development benefited human civilisation.
Jiang also said Beijing supported strengthening the global governance of AI through multilateral frameworks, particularly those centred on the United Nations.
The comments come amid a high-profile dispute between the Pentagon and AI company Anthropic over safeguards around the military use of its chatbot system, Claude.
The San Francisco-based firm has resisted pressure from the US Department of Defence to relax restrictions on how its technology can be used, arguing that such limits are needed to prevent the systems from being deployed for violence, weapons development or surveillance.
At the end of February, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei met US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to discuss demands that the company permit “any lawful use” of its AI models.
The meeting ended with a threat to remove the company from the defence department’s supply chain.
Amodei said his company would rather refuse cooperation than agree to applications that could “undermine rather than defend democratic values”.
The row intensified after the US military reportedly used Claude to help gather intelligence, select targets and render battlefield simulations in operations connected to a raid devised to abduct Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in January.
Anthropic objected, saying such uses would violate its terms of service.
Relations between the company and US defence officials deteriorated further in the following weeks. Hegseth accused the firm in an online post of “arrogance and betrayal” of its home country, demanding that any company working with the US government must end all dealings with the AI firm.
US undersecretary of defence for research and engineering Emil Michael has criticised Anthropic’s ethical restrictions on Claude as an unreasonable barrier, as the US military pushes to expand autonomy in systems such as armed drone swarms to compete with rivals including China.
Yet Beijing, for all its rhetoric urging caution, is also pushing AI use in the military.
The People’s Liberation Army has been aggressively pursuing “intelligentisation” – a core strategic concept that integrates AI into every level of warfare.
According to a draft blueprint of key projects for the 2026-30 period, China is prioritising increased strategic deterrence, accelerated readiness for unmanned and intelligent warfare and the rapid adoption of emerging technologies.
In the US, within hours of negotiations collapsing, the Pentagon struck a separate agreement with ChatGPT developer OpenAI, prompting backlash from some observers concerned about the accelerating integration of commercial AI into warfare.


US President Donald Trump last month ordered federal agencies to stop using Anthropic’s Claude and called the company “a radical left AI company” in an online post.
Despite the dispute, media reports suggested Claude was still being used by US and Israeli forces in intelligence-related roles during its ongoing large-scale bombing campaign against Iran.
Claude is not the only AI system the US military has sought to incorporate into its operations. The Pentagon has built a growing portfolio of AI models to aid it in areas including military simulations, intelligence assessments and operational planning.
Among these are systems supplied by technology companies including Alphabet, which has provided a “Gemini for Government” product, and xAI, the firm founded by Elon Musk, which offers a “Grok for Government” suite designed for official use.


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China believes that human primacy must be upheld in military applications of AI, defence ministry spokesman says


China believes that human primacy must be upheld in military applications of AI, defence ministry spokesman says.


China warns US against granting AI ability to ‘determine life and death’ on battlefield

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}China believes that human primacy must be upheld in military applications of AI, defence ministry spokesman says

China believes that human primacy must be upheld in military applications of AI, defence ministry spokesman says