China’s
Advanced AI
Research
MONITORING CHINA’S PATHS
TO “GENERAL” ARTIFICIAL 智
INTELLIGENCE
能
AUTHORS
Wm. C. Hannas
Huey-Meei Chang 科
Daniel H. Chou
Brian Fleeger
JULY 2022 技 Established in January 2019, the Center for Security and
Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown’s Walsh
School of Foreign Service is a research organization fo-
cused on studying the security impacts of emerging tech-
nologies, supporting academic work in security and tech-
nology studies, and delivering nonpartisan analysis to the
policy community. CSET aims to prepare a generation of
policymakers, analysts, and diplomats to address the chal-
lenges and opportunities of emerging technologies. CSET
focuses on the effects of progress in artificial intelligence,
advanced computing, and biotechnology.
CSET.GEORGETOWN | CSET@GEORGETOWN
2 Center for Security and Emerging TechnologyJULY 2022
China’s Advanced AI
Research
MONITORING CHINA’S PATHS
TO “GENERAL” ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
AUTHORS
Wm. C. Hannas
Huey-Meei Chang
Daniel H. Chou
Brian FleegerPRINT AND ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS
(c) 2022 by the Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
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Cover illustration: "Intelligence science and technology" in Chinese.
DOCUMENT IDENTIFIER
doi: 10.51593/20210064 Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARYIII
INTRODUCTIONV
1| GENERAL AI: DEFINITIONS AND PATHWAYS 1
A. RECTIFYING NAMES: “AGI” OR “GENERAL AI”
B. FIVE THEORETICAL PATHS TO GENERAL AI
2 | CHINA ADVANCED AI—A SEED LIST 7
C. CHINA’S MAINSTREAM APPROACHES TO ADVANCED AI
D. BRAIN-INSPIRED AI, CONNECTOMICS, WHOLE-BRAIN EMULATION
E. BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACES AND NEUROMORPHIC CHIPS
3 | MONITORING FOR SAFETY AND SECURITY 21
F. WHY BUILD A CHINA AI “WATCHBOARD?”
G. CREATING A DATA MODEL OF THE PROBLEM
H. WATCHBOARDING AND MONITORING
4 | THE SYSTEM IN OPERATION 29
I. EARLY EXAMPLES OF THE PROJECT’S UTILITY
J. CHINESE EXPERT VIEWS ON “GENERAL AI”
RECOMMENDATIONS 43
APPENDIX: INDICATORS AND KEYWORD LISTS 47
ENDNOTES 53
Center for Security and Emerging Technology i