A former Department of Defense (DOD) director has urged the U.S. to invest in “better” AI to ward off the impact of China gaining influence.

Jason Rathje, now president of the public sector at the $2.5 billion AI company webAI, told Military.com that to win the tech arms race, the U.S. needs to move away from vulnerable, centralized cloud-based AI systems and more toward local, specialized and secure intelligence.

President Donald Trump is currently meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Washington to discuss national security measures and international trade policies during a bilateral summit. Artificial intelligence is reportedly a major topic of planned discussion.

“China intends to win the AI race on scale,”…