A Chinese research team claims it used an AI program to design a warship’s electrical system in one day — a task that would take a team of people with advanced computing tools nearly a year.
A study published in the Chinese journal Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems last month said the AI designer completed all his tasks with 100 percent accuracy and raced through complex design problems.
China’s Ship Design and Research Center said the AI navigated more than 400 challenging design tasks perfectly, prompting lead senior engineer Luo Wei to declare that the program was “ready for engineering applications” in China’s shipbuilding industry to improve the production rate of warships. to increase.
The shocking news comes just weeks after the US Secretary of the Navy warned that China’s naval fleet has surpassed America’s in size and is growing faster than US manufacturers can match.
In addition, Wei’s team told the magazine that ship design, rather than production capacity, was the main factor limiting production of new ships. This is reported by the South China Morning Postsuggesting that AI design programs could dramatically boost Chinese naval development.
A Chinese warship takes part in exercises in the Arabian Sea near Karachi, Pakistan, on Feb. 13. The Navy of the People’s Liberation Army of China now has about 340 ships
The navies of China and the US differ significantly, but China’s production of new ships exceeds that of the US
The Chinese aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, is pictured at right
“It’s no secret that the People’s Republic of China is trying to overthrow our domination of the world’s oceans,” he said. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro in remarks at the National Press Club in Washington DC last month.
Del Toro said China’s navy recently added more than 100 fighters to its fleet, calling it “a naval buildup that is an important part of its increasingly aggressive global military stance.”
According to Del Toro, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy now has about 340 ships. The US Navy says its fleet contains “more than 290 ships ready to deploy,” and while the exact number is unclear, it is fewer than 300.
Del Toro said China plans to have a fleet of 440 ships in line by 2030, well ahead of the Pentagon’s goal of having 350 ships manned by 2045.
In recent years, China has become increasingly aggressive in the South China Sea, a vast expanse of ocean that China claims as its own, though the claim is not recognized under international law.
‘China’s disregard for the rules-based international order is particularly troubling in the maritime realm, from the Taiwan Strait to the high seas,” said Del Toro.
“The values of the Chinese Communist Party are incompatible with individual freedom, with democracy and with respect for human rights,” he added.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro (right) raised the alarm that China’s naval fleet is surpassing America’s in number of ships, growing faster than the US can currently match
The American Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) is seen in a file photo
The U.S. Navy’s fleet size is not expected to reach 350 until the 2040s, according to the Navy’s latest projections, seen in a CBO report Wednesday
CBO documents detail the Navy’s shipbuilding plans for the next few years. The fleet is likely to shrink before it grows as old ships are decommissioned
The Secretary of the Navy, in remarks to reporters, claimed that China’s shipbuilding capacity far exceeds that of the US, saying that China has 13 shipyards, including one with a shipbuilding capacity greater than all US yards combined.
The US has a major advantage in aircraft carriers, with the Navy having 11 to China’s three. China has also reportedly struggled to train enough fighter jet pilots to properly man its aircraft carriers.
However, experts say that in a large-scale naval war, the larger total fleet almost always has a decisive advantage.
Sam Tangredi, the Leidos Chair of Future Warfare Studies at the US Naval War College and former US Navy captain, issued such a warning in the January issue of the US Naval Institute’s Process magazine.
His analysis of 25 historic naval wars showed that the side with the larger fleet won in all but three cases.
“In a war between equally competent technological close colleagues – without a series of astonishing windfalls – the larger fleet always won,” he wrote.
