Reports

CSET produces evidence-driven analysis in a variety of forms, from informative graphics and translations to expert testimony and published reports. Our key areas of inquiry are the foundations of artificial intelligence — such as talent, data and computational power — as well as how AI can be used in cybersecurity and other national security settings. We also do research on the policy tools that can be used to shape AI’s development and use, and on biotechnology.

Report

China’s Military AI Wish List

Emelia Probasco, Sam Bresnick, and Cole McFaul
| February 2026

This report examines thousands of Chinese-language open-source requests for proposal (RFPs) published by the People’s Liberation Army between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2024. The RFPs the authors reviewed offer insights into the PLA’s priorities and ambitions for AI-enabled military technologies associated with C5ISRT: command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting.

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Read our translation of an ambitious plan by three Chinese government ministries to make a huge portion of China's datasets discoverable and usable in a single catalog by 2029.

Read our translation of a Chinese regulation that describes the circumstances under which ethics reviews of scientific research must be conducted, and how the review process works.

Read our translation of a policy document that describes how China should go about creating a system for ethics reviews of scientific research.

Read our translation of a regulation that defines the acceptable use of facial recognition technology in China.

Read our translation of a Chinese government policy designed to encourage the growth of the data labeling industry, an important enabler for the AI sector.

Read our translation of a guide that announces China’s funding priorities for explainable and generalizable AI basic research in 2025.

Read our translation of draft measures that describe a process for ethics reviews of Chinese scientific research.

Read our translation of a draft Chinese policy document from 2021 that lays out a basic framework for assessing ethical problems with scientific research.

Read our translation of China’s catalog of prohibited and restricted exports, as revised in December 2023.

Read out translation of an interview of Chinese AI expert Song-Chun Zhu, who argues that China’s AI industry should chart a different course than the current U.S. focus on data- and compute-heavy large language models.