Former White House Official Proposes Military Strikes on China to Halt AGI Development
Bastillepost · 2 SOURCESabout 2 hours ago6 MIN
Summary
A prominent US national security think tank has proposed that Washington consider extreme measures—including potential military strikes on Chinese data centers—to prevent China from achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) first. Jacob Stokes, a former White House official who served as senior adviser to then-Vice President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor, outlined these recommendations in a recent report published by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) .
Key Points
- Jacob Stokes (雅各布·斯托克斯), now Deputy Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at CNAS, presented recommendations during an online event on Thursday, calling on the Pentagon and National Security Agency to assess what intelligence would justify "hard actions" against China's AI infrastructure .
- The CNAS report titled "Superpowers and AGI" outlines multiple policy options including diplomacy, espionage, cyber attacks, and kinetic military measures, with the most extreme being preemptive strikes on Chinese data centers before AGI is achieved .
- According to research firm Epoch AI, the United States currently holds a lead of "several months" over China in developing advanced AI models, though Stokes cautioned that China could achieve unexpected breakthroughs, particularly in robotics and embodied AI .
- The report draws parallels to Cold War nuclear strategy, suggesting policymakers should work backward from the science of AGI to policy implications, treating it as a national security priority equivalent to nuclear weapons .
- The proposal has faced domestic criticism, with William Hartung, a senior arms and defense budget expert at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), calling the recommendations "extremely reckless" and warning that strikes on Chinese data centers would risk triggering hot war between two nuclear powers .
Why It Matters
This proposal signals a dangerous escalation in how major powers view AI development, framing technological competition as a potential trigger for military conflict. For Hong Kong readers, such US-China tensions directly impact the city's position as a global financial hub and technology center, where AI development and international partnerships are critical to economic stability and future competitiveness .
This proposal signals a dangerous escalation in how major powers view AI development, framing technological competition as a potential trigger for military conflict. For Hong Kong readers, such US-China tensions directly impact the city's position as a global financial hub and technology center, where AI development and international partnerships are critical to economic stability and future competitiveness .