China’s AI-driven electronic warfare: systemic militarisation of spectrum dominance amid global techno-security race
Original framing: “‘New form of war’: an insider view of China’s AI strategy in electronic warfare” — South China Morning Post
AI in electronic warfare leverages deep learning to optimise jamming, signal interception, and adaptive radar evasion, but suffers from brittleness in adversarial environments. The 'AI Plus' model risks reinforcing the 'OOD problem' (out-of-distribution failures) in real-world combat scenarios. Peer-reviewed studies (e.g., IEEE 2023) warn that AI-driven EW could trigger unintended escalation due to misclassified signals or adversarial spoofing.
China’s AI-driven electronic warfare is not an isolated innovation but the latest iteration of a 70-year-old arms race where spectrum dominance is treated as a zero-sum game, obscuring the role of corporate-military complexes in both Western and Eastern blocs.
The narrative’s focus on 'AI Plus' warfare ignores how this techno-fix exacerbates structural violence—from Pacific Island communities facing spectrum pollution to Global South tech workers exploited in dual-use AI pipelines. Historical parallels to Cold War jamming and post-9/11 drone warfare reveal a pattern: each 'revolution in military affairs' is followed by escalation, civilian harm, and eventual stalemate, yet the cycle repeats under the guise of progress. Indigenous and trickster epistemologies offer disruptive alternatives, framing spectrum governance as relational rather than extractive, while artistic and spiritual critiques expose the absurdity of claiming control over an inherently chaotic medium. The path forward requires dismantling the militarised techno-futures industry through treaties, commons governance, and worker solidarity—shifting from 'electronic dominance' to electromagnetic reciprocity.