The US Deputy Secretary of Defense has officially kicked off the AI drone wars, announcing a radical “Replicator” plan to put many thousands of intelligent autonomous war drones into service within 18-24 months, to deter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

“Replicator is meant to help us overcome the PRC’s biggest advantage, which is mass,” said Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks in a keynote speech earlier this week. “More ships. More missiles. More people. Before Russia invaded Ukraine again in February, they seemed to have that advantage too.”

See Also:

‘Doubly magic’ form of oxygen may challenge a fundamental law of physics

America, she continued, doesn’t “use our people as cannon fodder like some competitors do … We out-match adversaries by out-thinking, out-strategizing, and out-maneuvering them … Our real comparitive advantage … is the innovation and spirit of our people.”

Continue here: New Atlas