China plans to build world's first deep sea AI colony

BEIJING: China is planning to build the world’s first deep sea “artificial intelligence colony on earth” using robot submarines that can map out and survey seabed with depths of up to 11 kilometers, the state media disclosed.

So far, only 1 percent of the earth’s seas and oceans have been explored. The Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, which is leading the project, hopes their underwater exploration will lead to more data about marine life and analyzing mineral ores which could be used for industrial and scientific purposes.

The project named after the ancient Greek underworld of Hades involves having the robot submarines connected to floating docking platforms through cables to explore the deepest parts of the sea, the media reported.

Beijing has yet to specifically name the exact location with which it wants to build the AI colony but analysts surmise it could be in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea where it has already began building structures.

China earlier said it wants to build 20 floating nuclear power plants in the contested chain of small islands by 2020, a potential violation of international laws, after a United Nations court ruled in 2016 China has no historical rights to the South China Sea.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and China are locked up in a dispute over ownership claim in the Spratly Islands which is believed to be rich with oil and marine resources.