China cautions that US military’s unrestricted AI use could lead to a dystopian future akin to ‘The Terminator’, eroding ethics and accountability.

BEIJING: China has warned the United States that its excessive military use of artificial intelligence risks creating a dystopian world reminiscent of the film ‘The Terminator’.

Defence ministry spokesman Jiang Bin stated that unrestricted AI application by the military erodes ethical restraints and accountability in warfare.

“Such choices as the unrestricted application of AI by the military, using AI as a tool to violate the sovereignty of other nations, allowing AI to excessively affect war decisions, and giving algorithms the power to determine life and death, not only erode ethical restraints and accountability in wars, but also risk technological runaway,” Jiang said on Wednesday.

He explicitly referenced the 1984 American sci-fi film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“A dystopia depicted in the American film ‘The Terminator’ could one day come true,” he added.

The warning follows the Pentagon’s confirmation that Elon Musk’s Grok AI system is cleared for classified use.

It also comes amid a major row between the US military and AI firm Anthropic, which refused to allow its Claude model for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal warfare.

The Pentagon’s most widely deployed frontier AI model, Claude operates on the Defense Department’s classified systems.

Anthropic’s refusal infuriated Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, leading President Donald Trump to order all federal agencies to cease using its technology.

Hegseth subsequently designated Anthropic a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security”.

He ordered that no military contractor, supplier or partner may conduct commercial activity with Anthropic, allowing a six-month transition period for the Pentagon itself.

The dispute erupted days before the recent US military strike on Iran.

The Trump administration has sought the unconditional use of AI startups for military purposes.

 The Sun Malaysia