The rapid rise of artificial intelligence has both positive and negative consequences, many of which have yet to be fully understood. But the explosive growth in its use is indisputable. One critical domain of that growth is national defense. We are in an accelerating race with China, and the competition includes the three principal components of AI: algorithms, the data used to train models, and the computing infrastructure.

Algorithms are the instructions or rules that govern how the data are organized, analyzed, and interpreted. The data involved in defense are massive, including images, signal intelligence, and real-time tracking of movements and assets obtained from sensors, satellites, networks, and more. All of this must be ingested and processed to establish millions of possible scenarios, which are then simulated billions of times to produce distilled guidance for decision makers. And it’s all constantly changing.

The computing power (chips) and electric power are the most critical parts of the infrastructure required. The power requirements are massive, and this is a crucial element of the U.S.’s competition with China. The PRC already generates nearly 2 1/2 times our domestic power output, and its coal generation alone exceeds our total.

Numerous analyses, including

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