China’s primary intelligence agency has created an artificial intelligence tool that lets it track assets, targets and persons of interest, including American spies.
The CIA and China’s Ministry of State Security are in a tense battle to beat one another’s intelligence capabilities, The New York Times reported, citing U.S. officials and a person with knowledge of a transaction with the contracting firms that apparently helped build the AI-based system.
But the MSS has an edge with the AI system that can create files near-instantaneously on targets around the world, complete with behavior analyses and detailed information allowing Beijing to identify connections and vulnerabilities, internal meeting notes of MSS officials showed.
The AI program sifts through surveillance camera footage and online databases to gather license plate information, cellphone data, contacts and other kinds of information about a target, according to the meeting notes.
Advanced technology has enabled China to build up its network of spies, including recruiting American citizens, according to the Times. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s objective to supplant the U.S. as the global superpower is reflected in more training, better technology and increased funding for the MSS.
Under President Joe Biden, funding for the CIA has doubled, the Times reported, as the U.S. intelligence agency scrambles to rebuild its network of eyes and ears in China after a devastating compromise more than a decade ago.
“For China in particular, exploiting the existing technology or trade secrets of others has become a popular shortcut encouraged by the government,” Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, told the Times. “The urgency and intensity of technological espionage have increased significantly.”
It may be proving successful; Beijing claims to have nabbed several U.S. spies in recent months.
Should Americans be worried about a Chinese attack?
CIA Deputy Director David Cohen told the Times the CIA is reorganizing and funding efforts to better address China’s new threat, including setting up a Chinese mission center and a technology intelligence center.
“We’ve been counting tanks and understanding the capability of missiles for longer than we have been as sharply focused on the capability of semiconductors or AI algorithms or biotech equipment,” Cohen said.
The CIA did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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