*Artificial Eyes: Generative AI in China’s Military Intelligence* A report by Insikt Group ( @ recordedfuture) Key Findings 1 PLA media and researchers affiliated with the PLA have argued that the application of generative AI to military intelligence has a wide range of potential benefits, including improving the collection and analysis of intelligence and providing enhanced decision-making capabilities to military commanders, but have also recognized various challenges and risks associated with using this technology for intelligence work. 2 Likely realizing the intelligence limitations of general-purpose generative AI models, the PLA and China’s defense industry are likely prioritizing the development and use of specialized models that have been fine-tuned for intelligence tasks. 3 The PLA and China’s defense industry have very likely used a mix of proprietary and open-source LLMs from foreign and domestic developers to create generative AI-based intelligence tools. Foreign LLMs used this way very likely include models from Meta, OpenAI, and BigScience, among others, while domestic LLMs very likely include models from DeepSeek, Tsinghua University, Zhipu AI, and Alibaba Cloud, among others. 4 PLA patent applications reveal that the PLA has designed methods and systems that use generative AI to facilitate intelligence tasks such as generating open-source intelligence (OSINT) products, processing satellite imagery, supporting event extraction, and processing event data. 5 In a patent application filed in December 2024, a Chinese state-owned defense industry research institute proposed using OSINT, human intelligence (HUMINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), and technical intelligence (TECHINT) data to train a military LLM to specialize in intelligence tasks, purportedly enabling the enhanced military LLM to support every phase of the intelligence cycle and improve decision-making during military operations. 6 The PLA and China’s defense industry have likely procured generative AI technology to support OSINT and science and technology (S&T) intelligence, an indicator that at least some elements of China’s military are likely beginning to apply generative AI to intelligence tasks. 7 The PLA — which very likely rapidly adopted DeepSeek’s generative AI models in early 2025 — is likely using DeepSeek’s LLMs for intelligence purposes, based on claims by a Chinese defense contractor that it has provided a DeepSeek-based OSINT model to the PLA. 8 The PLA is likely concerned that foreign counterintelligence organizations could use generative AI to produce convincing inauthentic content to mislead Chinese intelligence personnel and degrade the intelligence value of open-source information. Chinese counterintelligence organizations could apply generative AI in a similar manner. https://www.recordedfuture.com/research/artificial-eyes-generative-ai-chinas-military-intelligence