China Uses Robots To Make Ammunition And Bomb Production Much Faster

In a world that in many ways is headed towards a more peaceful era, it seems developed countries have become more efficient at producing war machines. In the case of China, over 25 percent of its factories producing ammunition and bombs have been replaced by robots. This increases its ability to manufacture tools of death by up to 300 percent.

As Newsweek reports, China is set to boost its bomb and ammunition production capacity threefold by 2028. This is thanks to the country’s move to rely more on robots for its manufacturing process, which make use of artificial intelligence to improve efficiency.

One of the people behind the increased productivity in producing ordnance is the country’s weapons systems head, Xu Zhigang who recently told the South China Morning Post that the robots are five times more productive than humans. He even boasted about how the robots were given hands and eyes, which makes intricate tasks like assembling artillery shells easier to accomplish.

Now, it’s worth noting that the efficiency of smart machines is not the only reason for their adoption. Apparently, the country is simply running out of human workers who could work under such dangerous conditions. Putting together bullets and bombs is not exactly the safest profession in the world.

The fact that the machines are more accurate, less prone to injuries, and can work for a significantly longer period of time are simply bonuses that the Chinese government is more than willing to exploit. On that note, many are expressing concern with regards to the practice of giving machines equipped with AI such open access to weaponry.

So far, few are willing to say anything about robot uprisings. However, there are those like Harvard University’s Jon Wolfsthal who warn that there are huge risks to relying too much on automation, especially in weapons manufacturing.