Exclusive: Senator pitches Chinese AI questions in Hegseth letter

Colin Demarest

A man in a suit and tie identified as Sen. Banks touches his temple with two fingers, looking pensive during a formal meeting with two blurred men in background. — Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) at a committee hearing in Washington in 2025. Photo: Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) wants the Pentagon's nascent Artificial Intelligence Futures Steering Committee to identify China's top AI influencers, examine the country's security practices and investigate what sabotage of frontier models might look like, according to a letter Axios obtained exclusively.

Why it matters: AI is supercharging the Washington-Beijing face-off.

And military employment of the technology is driving one of the largest news stories of the year.

Driving the news: Banks laid out his recommendations and questions for the committee in a two-page letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sent Tuesday.

In it, the senator describes AI as "likely to be the defining technology of the 21st century" and notes China is "clearly aware" of its applications.
"Many experts predict that AI may soon match or surpass human performance across various tasks, including AI research and development itself."

Catch up quick: The fiscal 2026 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Defense Department to form a senior panel to tackle questions about AI and potential breakout moments.

Zoom out: The U.S. military has for years used and experimented with AI, autonomy and automation.

The Pentagon's fiscal 2026 budget blueprint allocated $13.4 billion for autonomous systems, including $9.4 billion for aerial drones and $210 million for ground vehicles.
It logged more than 685 AI-related projects in 2022. At the time, the Army had the most. The Marine Corps had the least.

The bottom line: "Last year, DeepSeek caught much of our national security community by surprise," Banks wrote.

"As AI competition intensifies, we need to take appropriate actions to avoid strategic surprises."

Go deeper: China seeks "alternative world order," U.S. commission warns

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Exclusive: Senator pitches Chinese AI questions in Hegseth letter

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