Pentagon Report Warns China Closing Gap in AI Military Capabilities

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Defense Department released a report this week detailing China‘s advancements in military artificial intelligence (AI), revealing a notable narrowing of the technological gap with the United States. The report was issued quietly ahead of the Christmas holiday and is part of an annual study submitted to Congress.

Pentagon officials stated, “In 2024, China’s commercial and academic AI sectors made progress on large language models (LLMs) and LLM-based reasoning models, which has narrowed the performance gap between China’s models and the U.S. models currently leading the field.” These AI tools can generate software code, text, images, and other media in response to human prompts, vital for military applications.

The report highlighted that LLMs are beneficial for several military tasks, including coding to support cyber operations and assisting in military decisions. The People’s Liberation Army is currently employing military-civil fusion mechanisms that enable the collaboration of China’s AI specialists with military researchers.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon launched a new platform to improve access to generative AI technologies for its workforce. This initiative includes the introduction of Google Cloud’s Gemini for Government products. The integration of xAI’s frontier AI systems, created by Elon Musk, is also set for deployment in early 2026, which will allow military personnel to use its capabilities securely.

China’s investments in AI technology extend beyond traditional applications, with a focus on military operations that could include unmanned systems, intelligence gathering, and enhancement of decision-making processes. Analysts and defense officials have raised concerns regarding the potential use of AI to create deceptive content for information operations.

The report indicates that the Chinese military recognizes the significance of controlling narratives during conflicts, particularly with Taiwan, which remains a focal point of tension. Pentagon officials noted, “China almost certainly has recognized the necessity of controlling the internal and external narrative in conflict and seeks to develop methods to better implement information warfare.”

As geopolitical tensions rise, the Pentagon’s report serves as a stark reminder of the urgency for the United States to keep pace with China’s rapid advancements in militarized AI technologies, particularly in the context of potential conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region.