The technology, disclosed in a peer-reviewed paper published in April by researchers with the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE), could bolster Beijing’s stance in stalled international disarmament talks while fuelling debate on the role of AI in managing weapons of mass destruction.
The project, which is built on a protocol jointly proposed by Chinese and American scientists more than a decade ago, faced three monumental hurdles.
These were – training and testing the AI using sensitive nuclear data (including real warhead specifications); convincing Chinese military leaders that the system would not leak tech secrets; and persuading sceptical nations, particularly the United States, to abandon Cold War-era verification methods.
So far, only the first step has been cleared.
“Due to the classified nature of nuclear warheads and component designs, specific data cannot be disclosed here,” the CIAE team wrote in their Atomic Energy Science and Technology paper.
