President Joe Biden is moving to restrict U.S. tech investment in Chinese companies developing artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies—and it’s not because of chatbots.

Pilotless planes that attack targets on their own, un-hackable communications, sensors that detect stealth aircraft, and tank cannons that aim themselves are among the current and future military applications of AI and the other technologies targeted by a Biden executive order this week. Indeed, Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, said AI could be as revolutionary to military technology as nuclear weapons in an interview with Wired earlier this year.

Biden’s order directs the Treasury Department to regulate U.S. investment in Chinese companies developing semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence. The specifics of the regulations will be finalized after a public comment period, and will likely include exemptions for things like index funds and ETFs.

Those technologies “pose significant national security risks, such as the development of more sophisticated weapons systems, breaking of cryptographic codes, and other applications that could provide these countries with military advantages,” the White House said in a press release.

Biden administration officials are worried U.S. investment could speed China’s development of advanced weapons. Investment brings with it more than just money, often coming with managerial assistance, talent networks, and market access, according to a Treasury Department press release on the proposed measures.

The Department of Defense has poured billions into at least 685 AI projects, according to a Government Accountability Office report from 2022. China has also prioritized AI weapons.
Here are some of the potential military applications of the technologies Biden has targeted.

Autonomous Drones

AI could guide uncrewed aircraft that are not just remotely controll♊ed by a human operator, but act completely on their own.

Last week, the U.S. Air Force tested this concept out with a Valkyrie drone—essentially a pilotless fighter jet. The drone carried out a three-hour mission at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio demonstrating its AI capabilities, with the goal of developi💃ng the ability to attack air and ground targets on its own, according to a press release from the Air Force Research Laboratory. 

Earlier this year, Chinese researchers said they had carried out a mock dogfight between a human-piloted plane and an AI-operated drone, with the drone winning the battle, according to a report by the South China Morning Post news agency.

Self-Aiming Guns

The U.S. Army is experimenting with an AI system connected to a tank cannon that identifies targets and aims by itself. On the other side of the Pacific, the Chinese used AI to aim laser-guided artillery, according to the South China Morning Post.

Sci-Fi Sensors and Unhackable Communications

Quantum technologies, which use the principles of quantum theory, could someday be used to make sensors to find submarines and underground bunkers, according to a Congressional Research Service report from late last year. Scholars have also speculated that a quantum radar could be used to better detect aircraft such as the U.S. F-35 fighter, which is harder to see on radar than conventional planes because of its stealthy design.

Quantum computing could also be used to encrypt communications to the point where they’re unhackable, making them secure from being intercepted by enemies.