Does Beijing need AI talent in ‘public opinion war’ over South China Sea?

Think tanks, seen as a vital soft power tool by Beijing, have been urged to recruit more tech expertise to help sway international opinion Wu Shicun, the founding president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said Chinese humanities and social science research had traditionally operated in a “lone-wolf” fashion and lacked interdisciplinary diversity. He urged think tanks to employ more scientists and algorithm engineers, “moving beyond traditional scholars engaged in theoretical debate and replacing pure commentary with technical and engineering capabilities”. Several other Chinese think tanks have been looking to harness artificial intelligence (AI) to better monitor global public opinion and amplify China’s messaging overseas.

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