WASHINGTON—The world may be entering an era of “potential international instability” with the increasing threat of the Chinese regime and the advent of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics that could prove decisive to warfare, the top U.S. general warned on Wednesday.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, compared the current era to other major geopolitical shifts in world history, including the fall of Rome and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He warned that the geopolitical change was being accompanied by technological innovation in robotics, hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence and other technologies.
“And they are extraordinarily disruptive and potentially decisive in the conduct of war,” Milley said.
Milley’s remarks came just days after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned the United States needed to prepare for a potential future conflict bearing little resemblance to “the old wars” that have long consumed the Pentagon.