Books | We Must Keep in Mind That the Technology we are Faced With is Software-Driven and is Thus Evolving at a Rapid Pace

Pravin Sawhney, author of The Last War: How AI Will Shape India’s Final Showdown With China

AI in warfare is an alien subject in India. How did you come upon this subject and why did you think it was important to write on it?

The term AI has been around a long time. In 2014, when the Pentagon announced its third offset strategy with focus on AI and autonomy to leapfrog the PLA’s growing capabilities in new war domains, I became aware that AI in warfare was round the corner. Since I was co-authoring the book Dragon on our Doorstep: Managing China Through Military Power in 2017, I decided to concentrate on PLA’s war domains. I knew that the subject of my next book would be the use of AI in PLA’s war domains.

China, after all, is not only India’s neighbour with close ties with Pakistan, but also has a long-disputed border with India. In my first book The Defence Makeover: Ten Myths That Shape India’s Image in 2000, I had argued that PLA’s fast growing boarder management was an immediate threat to India. I also wrote that the seeds of the future India-China war lay in the disputed eastern sector (Arunachal Pradesh) since this area was huge and India cannot barter away so much land for peace. I was proved right. After the ill-thought 1993 bilateral agreement which re-named the disputed border as the Line of Actual Control, PLA’s transgressions and intrusions became a regular feature. Thus, in Dragon on our Doorstep, I spoke of increased PLA threat from its new war domains. Writing on PLA’s use of AI in warfare was the next logical step.

What was your search and learning process like? Were there moments of doubts where you felt you wouldn’t be able to do justice to the subject?

I started work on the present book in 2017. Google was a big help in finding me good books, monographs, video discussions, and articles mostly by US experts, on the subject. I was fortunate to be invited by PLA-supported Xiangshan Forum in Beijing in 2018. It had a session on ‘AI in warfare’ where I heard a Chinese industry executive. His talks had amazing clarity on PLA’s AI roadmap. This session spurred me to do expansive research on the subject.

The following year, I got luckier. Beijing Xiangshan Forum 2019 invited me as a speaker in the AI session where my talk was well received. This convinced me that my operational ideas (which I have el