These multifaceted campaigns have the potential to offset any advantages artificial intelligence brings to cyber defenses, a reality on display in the recent discovery of malware in U.S. And, as seen in numerous cases these cyber operations work alongside clandestine human intelligence networks to steal trade secrets from U.S. In other words, hackers work for communist technocrats in modern China. The actual number is likely higher and each instance sees multiple businesses targeted that overlap priority industries specified in the CCP’s “Made in China 2025” plan. Since 2000, China has been associated with 90 cyber espionage campaigns, 30% more than Russia. According to the Dyadic Cyber Incident and Campaign Dataset (DCID), the People’s Republic of China is the world’s most egregious actor in terms of cyber espionage targeting private firms and linked to stealing intellectual property. Their quest to achieve dominance in artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) is unlikely to be any different. Put simply, China is trying to cheat its way to the top of key industries in the 21st century. Even though that competition need not turn to conflict, it will almost certainly continue to see a network of operatives linked to the CCP wage a systematic cyber espionage campaign designed to gain an intelligence advantage and steal intellectual property. The United States is locked in a long-term competition with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).