A CSET report was highlighted in an article published by The Diplomat. The article examines People’s Liberation Army (PLA)-linked research into lethal, autonomous drone swarms for urban warfare, particularly in a potential conflict over Taiwan. It explains how the PLA’s push toward “intelligentization” seeks to delegate battlefield decision-making to AI, enabling strikes with minimal human oversight.

The CSET report, authored by Cole McFaul, Sam Bresnick, and Daniel Chou, “Pulling Back the Curtain on China’s Military-Civil Fusion”, examines 2,857 AI-related defense contract award notices published between January 2023 and December 2024. The report finds that while China’s legacy defense sector players lead AI-related military procurement, an emerging set of nontraditional vendors and research institutions appears to play a consequential role.

To read the article, visit The Diplomat.