China is racing to create an effective merger between man and machine through brain-computer interface research as part of a push to achieve what Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology describes as “cognitive enhancement.” 

China is using invasive, minimally invasive and non-invasive BCIs to “augment human cognition and human-machine teaming by linking brains directly to computational resources,” according to a presentation on China’s plans from Georgetown’s experts delivered to top U.S. officials. 

American approaches have largely fixated on scaling up large language models as a main route to developing powerful AI tech. OpenAI and similar frontier AI companies have looked to increase the parameters of their models to improve their performance. Some interpret China’s research as being alternatively focused on a literal merger yielding no distinction between human and machine intelligence. 

Details on China’s work are shrouded in secrecy, but National Security Tech Correspondent Ryan Lovelace offers a deep dive, examining glimpses of the Chinese Communist Party’s research and development agenda that have come into view via AI experts, Chinese government industry and strategy documents and information provided by technologists recruited by Beijing.

The Trump administration rolled out new plans this week that aim to make the U.S. the world leader in AI development. Top AI technologists and researchers flocked to Washington on Wednesday eager to learn more about the plans, and a Google executive warned a gathering of scientists and technologists that China is a formidable foe they all need to reckon with.

Google Public Sector’s Josh Marcuse, a former Pentagon official, told the Special Competitive Studies Project’s gathering that it is wrong to think China’s progress is only attributable to stolen gains. “China has really moved to a very different footing and they have an incredibly vibrant [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] ecosystem and they’re a very large population,” Mr. Marcuse said at the AI+ Science Summit. “They are actually increasingly entrepreneurial and they’re increasingly original.”

Mr. Trump on Wednesday unveiled his new AI Action Plan, which includes 90 policy actions the administration will take to accelerate innovation, build AI infrastructure and take a lead role in international security and diplomacy surrounding the tech. The plan focuses on expediting permits for semiconductor chip fabricators and data centers, new AI export control mechanisms and removing regulations affecting AI development and deployment.

Iran has faced explosions at industrial centers, apartment complexes, an airport and an oil refinery, all during the month since Mr. Trump announced a ceasefire in the latest military clash between the Islamic republic and Israel.

At least four residential buildings have exploded since the beginning of July. Iranian officials insist each was the result of a gas leak, despite reporting to the contrary. One explosion rocked a housing complex for Iran’s Armed Forces Judicial Organization in Tehran, despite the complex not being connected to a gas grid.

There is speculation about Israeli involvement. While Israel has admitted that its intelligence connections in Iran are extensive and helped coordinate strikes last month, analysts say Iranian officials may be reluctant to publicly accuse Israel of sabotage, as such accusations could reignite the Iran-Israel war.

Janatan Sayeh, an Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, tells Threat Status that the Iranian regime is in a “lose-lose” situation. “It’s either not Israel and the regime is incapable and incompetent when it comes to building infrastructure,” he said. “Or it is Israel and the regime doesn’t have the momentum or perhaps the power or will to call out Israel for its attack.”

The United Kingdom issued a new proposal this week that would require victims of ransomware attacks to notify law enforcement so they could disrupt the criminals’ activities before any ransom is paid. The proposal seeks specifically to ban ransomware payments by “owners and operators of regulated critical national infrastructure and the public sector.”

According to survey results included in a U.K. Interior Ministry report announcing the proposal, respondents were overall supportive of the proposal. However, respondents felt a ransomware payment prevention regime could create significant loopholes for businesses and leave some smaller organizations vulnerable.

Some countries have adopted harsh ransomware payment laws without outright banning the practice. Australia last year adopted a law that requires victims to inform the government if they paid a ransom. North Carolina and Florida also have state-level bans on ransomware payments, which prevent government actors from negotiating with hackers.

A Senate Armed Services Committee report on the fiscal 2026 defense authorization bill warns that despite congressional action, the Pentagon lacks “strategic clarity” for conducting cognitive warfare, a new domain of non-kinetic warfare that has become a major focus of China’s People’s Liberation Army.

The committee wants the Pentagon to produce an assessment for Congress specifically focusing on cognitive warfare, which involves an array of weaponry ranging from “brain control” arms, to sophisticated information warfare operations. According to the latest Pentagon report on the Chinese military, Beijing’s goal in the cognitive warfare realm is to manipulate information to attack an adversary’s decision-making abilities.

The 2024 Pentagon report says “the PLA is exploring a range of ‘neurocognitive warfare’ capabilities that exploit adversaries using neuroscience and psychology.” Examples include plans to use AI-powered deepfake videos to mislead and confuse military and political leaders during conflicts, and psychological warfare to demoralize U.S. troops and polarize society.

• July 24 — Coffee Series: Maj. Gen. Mark Bennett, Director of the Army Budget Office, Association of the United States Army

• July 29 — Global Compute and National Security, CNAS

• July 29 — Will the Iraq-Kuwait Dispute Undermine the Future of Gulf Integration? Chatham House

• July 29 — ICE Pact: The Icebreaker Collaboration Effort and Arctic Security Conversation, The Heritage Foundation

• July 30 — Malaysia, China and the Region in a Pivotal Year, Lowy Institute

• July 31 — Breaking Out of Quarantine: Wargaming a Chinese Blockade of Taiwan, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Aug. 5 — Misinformation: What Is It and What Should We Do About It? Cato Institute

• Aug. 11-13 — Ai4 2025: Artificial Intelligence Industry Event, Ai4